title: Profile of Amblyopia in School going (5-15 years) Children at State Level Referral Hospital in Uttarakhand.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Amblyopia is one of the common causes of childhood visual impairment. The prevalence of amblyopia usually varies according to the age group of the studied population and the factors prevailing in that region. The upper limit of the critical time when amblyopia can develop is around eight years of age and it can be permanent if corrective measures are not taken in time.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of study was to know the profile and pattern of amblyopia in children aged 5-15 years with refractive error in Uttarakhand and to compare it with national and regional (South Asian) studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present retrospective cross-sectional study, 360 children from 5-15 yrs of age who attended the OPD during the period between September 2014 to February 2015, had undergone detailed Ophthalmic examination. The children having vision < 6/12 with out organic lesion were included in the study. The children with strabismus, previous ocular surgery and ocular diseases were excluded. Chi-Square test was done for statistical analysis (IBM SPSS Version 23).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of amblyopia was 8.6% (n=31) with insignificant gender variation (p-value>0.05). Amblyopia due to astigmatism (combined) was in 41.93% (n=13) followed by Hypermetropia [32.25% (n=10)] and least in myopia [25.8% (n=8)]. In 51.61% cases age of presentation was 5-10 years while rest belonged to > 10 years of age. Binocular amblyopia was more (58.06%) then unilateral amblyopia (41.93%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Refractory errors are second most common cause of paediatrc amblyopia. Amblyopia and associated strabismus can have devastating psychosocial and economical fall outs. Our study emphasizes the need of visual screening of school children and prescribing them correct spectacles at appropriate time.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences , Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India .
authors.forename: Manisha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences , Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India .
authors.forename: Sudhir Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Rana
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences , Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India .
authors.forename: Sanjiv Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences , Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India .
authors.forename: R N P
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Sinha
keywords: Ametropia; Anisometropia; Astigmatism