title: Amblyopia and refractive errors among school-aged children with low socioeconomic status in southeastern Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of refractive errors and other eye diseases, incidence and types of amblyopia in school-aged children, and their relation to gender, age, parental education, and socioeconomic factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 21,062 children 6 to 14 years old were screened. The examination included visual acuity measurements and ocular motility evaluation. Autorefraction under cycloplegia and examination of the external eye, anterior segment, media, and fundus were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 11,118 females and 9,944 males. The average age was 10.56 ± 3.59 years. When all of the children were evaluated, 3.2% had myopia and 5.9% had hyperopia. Astigmatism 0.50 D or greater was present in 14.3% of children. Myopia was associated with older age, female gender, and higher parental education. Hyperopia was inversely proportional with older age. Spectacles were needed in 4,476 (22.7%) children with refractive errors, and 10.6% of children were unaware of their spectacle needs. Amblyopia was detected in 2.6% of all children. The most common causes of amblyopia were anisometropia (1.2%) and strabismus (0.9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual impairment is a common disorder in school-aged children. Eye health screening programs are beneficial in early detection and proper treatment of refractive errors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Diyarbakir, Turkey. ihsancaca@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ihsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Caca
authors.forename: Abdullah Kursat
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Cingu
authors.forename: Alparslan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Seyhmus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ari
authors.forename: Mehmet Emin
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dursun
authors.forename: Umut
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dag
authors.forename: Selahattin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balsak
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alakus
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yavuz
authors.forename: Yilmaz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Palanci
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006956:Hyperopia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012923:Social Class; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology