Department of Ophthalmology, Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital, MAHAN Trust, Dharni, Amravati, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Community Health, Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital, MAHAN Trust, Dharni, Amravati, Maharashtra, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2023 Oct 1;158(4):370-377. doi: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_3228_21. Epub 2023 Sep 25.
Most of the ocular morbidities among school children are preventable or treatable. Melghat, a difficult to access, hilly, forest, tribal area with poorly developed infrastructure in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. Scarcity of ophthalmologists and low health-seeking behaviour of tribal people contributes to the high burden of ocular morbidity. Given the lack of published studies on the ocular morbidity among children in Melghat, outreach programmes are essential to diagnose and treat visual impairments promptly. The objective was to determine the prevalence of ocular morbidity among children in the tribal area of Melghat.
A community-based observational study was carried out in the Chikhaldara and Dharni blocks of Melghat. Children from 15 tribal villages were screened for eye disorders by trained paramedics. Most of the children were examined by an ophthalmologist. We used Chi-square test for categorical variables.
A total of 4357 children aged between 6 and 18 yr were examined. Of these 2336 (53.6%) were females and 2021 (46.4%) were males. Out of 4357 children, 507 (11.63%) had an ocular morbidity. The prevalence of ocular morbidity and refractive error increased in the age group of 8-10 yr (P<0.05 and <0.001, respectively). Refractive error was the most common ocular morbidity (n=339; 7.8%), followed by vitamin A deficiency (VAD) (n=120; 2.8%).
The prevalence of refractive error and VAD in this study was significantly higher than the rest of India and the world. For the prevention of childhood blindness, immediate intervention programme, including eye screening by trained paramedics, treatment by an ophthalmologist and prophylaxis, is crucial.
大多数儿童眼部疾病是可以预防或治疗的。梅勒加特是马哈拉施特拉邦阿玛瓦蒂区一个难以进入的丘陵、森林部落地区，基础设施不完善。眼科医生的短缺和部落人民寻求医疗保健的意识较低，导致眼部疾病负担沉重。鉴于梅勒加特儿童眼部疾病的相关研究较少，开展外展项目对于及时诊断和治疗视力障碍至关重要。本研究旨在确定梅勒加特部落地区儿童眼部疾病的患病率。
在梅勒加特的奇卡尔达拉和达尔尼两个街区进行了一项基于社区的观察性研究。由经过培训的辅助医务人员对来自 15 个部落村庄的儿童进行眼部疾病筛查。大多数儿童由眼科医生进行检查。我们使用卡方检验进行分类变量分析。
共检查了 4357 名年龄在 6 至 18 岁之间的儿童。其中 2336 名（53.6%）为女性，2021 名（46.4%）为男性。在 4357 名儿童中，有 507 名（11.63%）患有眼部疾病。眼部疾病和屈光不正的患病率在 8-10 岁年龄组中增加（P<0.05 和<0.001）。屈光不正（n=339；7.8%）是最常见的眼部疾病，其次是维生素 A 缺乏症（VAD）（n=120；2.8%）。
本研究中屈光不正和 VAD 的患病率明显高于印度和世界其他地区。为预防儿童失明，需要立即开展包括由经过培训的辅助医务人员进行眼部筛查、眼科医生治疗和预防措施在内的干预计划。
