Prevalence of color vision deficiency among school-going boys in South India

PURPOSE: Impact of color vision deficiency (CVD) on activities at school and productivity at work and consequential psychosocial difficulties has been reported. Although early detection and awareness help in overcoming these difficulties, screening for CVD is not a part of the school eye-screening initiatives in many countries. This study aimed at reporting the prevalence of CVD among school-going boys in Kanchipuram district, South India. METHODS: The study was carried out as part of a school eye-screening program (SES) conducted in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, India for children between 6 and 17 years. The SES followed a three-phased protocol, which also included screening for CVD for all the boys between 11 and 17 years. The boys underwent CVD screening with Dalton's pseudo isochromatic plates (PIPs) followed by confirmation with Ishihara's PIP. The data were analyzed and the proportion of CVD in boys among different class grades, type of schools, location of schools, blocks of the district, and other clinical characteristics are presented. RESULTS: Totally 250,052 children were screened in 1047 schools of which 74986 (60.61%) were boys between 11 and 17 years (mean age: 13.75 ± 1.91). The overall prevalence of CVD was found to be 2.76% (n = 2073; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.65–2.88). CVD was associated with urban locations (3.17% odds ratio [OR]: 1.90 95%CI: 1.69–2.13 P < 0.05) and public schooling (2.87%) (OR: 1.29 95%CI: 1.17–1.43 P < 0.05). Boys with CVD were less likely to have vision impairment (P = 0.002) and myopia (P < 0.001) as compared with boys with normal color vision. There was no significant difference in the proportion of other ocular conditions between children with and without CVD (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study shows a significant proportion of CVD among boys in Kanchipuram district, India and its association with various demographic and clinical characteristics. Identification of CVD and counseling the stakeholders earlier through school children screening is crucial.