title: Refractive error in school children in an urban and rural setting in Cambodia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence of refractive error in schoolchildren aged 12-14 years in urban and rural settings in Cambodia's Phnom Penh and Kandal provinces.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten schools from Phnom Penh Province and 26 schools from Kandal Province were randomly selected and surveyed in October 2010. Children were examined by teams of Australian and Cambodian optometrists, ophthalmic nurses and ophthalmologists who performed visual acuity (VA) testing and cycloplegic refraction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 5527 children were included in the study. The prevalence of uncorrected, presenting and best-corrected VA ≤ 6/12 in the better eye were 2.48% (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.02-2.83%), 1.90% (95% CI 1.52-2.24%) and 0.36% (95% CI 0.20-0.52%), respectively; 43 children presented with glasses whilst a total of 315 glasses were dispensed. The total prevalence of refractive error was 6.57% (95% CI 5.91-7.22%), but there was a significant difference between urban (13.7%, 95% CI 12.2-15.2%) and rural (2.5%, 95% CI 2.03-3.07%) schools (P < 0.0001). Refractive error accounted for 91.2% of visually impaired eyes, cataract for 1.7%, and other causes for 7.1%. Myopia (spherical equivalent ≤ -0.50 diopters [D] in either eye) was associated with increased age, female gender and urban schooling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of refractive error was significantly higher in urban Phnom Penh schools than rural schools in Kandal Province. The prevalence of refractive error, particularly myopia was relatively low compared to previous reports in Asia. The majority of children did not have appropriate correction with spectacles, highlighting the need for more effective screening and optical intervention.
authors.affiliation: Sight For All Foundation, South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Zoe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ngy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muecke
authors.forename: Weng Onn
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Horm
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Piseth
authors.forename: Aimee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jnguyenphamhh
authors.forename: Yalda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dehghan
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Selva
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casson
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002160:Cambodia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014787:Vision Tests; D014792:Visual Acuity; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*