Prevalences of ocular conditions among Hispanic, white, Asian, and black immigrant students examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic.
BACKGROUND
First-and second-generation immigrant children are the fastest-growing component of the U.S. population under 15 years of age. Prevalences of ocular conditions in first-generation immigrant children are described, stratified by ethnicity and sex, and compared to previous UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic (MEC) studies and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.


METHODS
Clinical data from 2,229 newly immigrated students, ages 8 to 16 years of age, examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic from 1990-1996, were analyzed by chi-squares test.


RESULTS
Females have significantly higher prevalences of astigmatism (p = 0.003) and myopia (p = 0.001) than males. Asians have significantly higher prevalences of myopia (p < 0.001) and visual acuity worse than 20/40 without correction (p < 0.001) than Hispanics.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall ocular health of this sample is very close to that of age-matched U.S. children, but with markedly lower prevalences of extraocular muscle imbalance and color vision deficiencies. Examiners should be aware of the higher rate of astigmatism and myopia in first-generation female immigrants, as well as the higher prevalence of myopia among Asians.
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Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA School Medicine 90095-7004,USA.
Lee
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Oelrich
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D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008952:Mobile Health Units; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013334:Students; D015351:Vision Screening; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*