Prevalence Of Ocular Morbidities And Screen Time Among Primary School Children Of Rural Area: Cross Sectional Study.

[摘要] Ocular morbidity, which often begins in childhood, can cause severe eye disabilities and affect development,academic performance, social and employment opportunities. National monitoring of ocular morbidity detection,early treatment, and addressing medical concerns is needed to identify areas of need and determine the most costeffective screening and treatment methods. Devices like smartphones and video games increase the risk of ocularabnormalities. Children and parents should gain knowledge about early detection of ocular morbidities, eye hygieneand defect repairs. The present study was aimed to know the prevalence of ocular disease among primary schoolchildren aged 6-11 years and its association with screen time. Under The Department of Community Healthconducted a population-based cross-sectional study in the rural field practice areas of the Government MedicalCollege, which included 300 children aged 5 to 11 attending primary schools. The subjects were questioned using awell-designed questionnaire. The responses were collected and evaluated by a qualified medical professional, and theresults were recorded on the study's proforma. After confirming the questionnaire's accuracy, the data were enteredinto a Microsoft Excel® Spreadsheet and SPSS was used for statistical analysis. The prevalence of ocular morbiditiesassociated with screen time among elementary school students was determined using the Chi-Square test. Less than0.05 P value was considered statistically significant. The study included 300 participants aged between 6 and 11years, with a mean age of 8.3 ±1.67 years. There were 49.3% (n=148) girls and 50.7% (n=152) boys. The primaryobjective of our study was to evaluate screen-related ocular morbidities in elementary school students using the ChiSquare test. 53.2% of 139 children who used digital devices for 2-4 hours (time code 1) and 67.5% of 77 children whoused digital devices for 4-6 hours (time code 2) reported symptoms. The Chi-square test yielded a significant p value(p=.041) as a result. In our study, the Chi-squared test revealed no association between eyeglass use and ocularmorbidity symptoms. (p=.221). School children between the ages of 6 and 11 were found to have a high prevalence of48.7% of ocular morbidity, with a positive association to exposure to digital display devices. Therefore, earlydiagnosis and treatment of visual impairment are necessary to prevent damage to children's vision and academicperformance.

[学科分类] 工程和技术（综合）

[关键词] Ocular Morbidity;screen time;digital display devices;school children