Results of preschool screening for visual problems at Samsun

Abstract

The aim of this study was to detect the prevalence of ocular conditions that interfere with vision and to evaluate the association between the prevalence of these conditions and some demographic data in preschool children. The study was performed on 96 children between the age of 3 and 6 years attending to two different day-care centres with different socioeconomic and cultural family characteristics. The prevalence of visual acuity of 0.7 or less was 15.6%, cycloplegic refraction of 2D or more was 24.0%, anisometropia of 2D or more was 3.1%, strabismus was 5.2% and amblyopia was 5.2% among the whole children; but the prevalence of visual acuity of 0.7 or less and cycloplegic refraction of 2D or more was significantly higher in children with poorer socioeconomic and cultural family characteristics. We tried to identify the risk factors associated with some ocular conditions in preschool children.