Rutayani Dash1 , Shagufa Jamal2 , Radhakanta Bhoi3 , Suchitra Dash4
BACKGROUND According to world health organisation childhood blindness is a priority and significant component of its vision 2020 programme. It has been estimated that there are 1.4 million blind children worldwide. This study aimed to identify the causes of ocular morbidity in children attending a tertiary eye centre in southern Odisha. METHODS This is a retrospective study conducted in our hospital between August 2017 and July 2018. A total of 636 patients was evaluated, and the data were tabulated in MS Office Excel and analysed. All children who attended the OPD during the study period were included and children whose parents did not give consent for examinations were excluded. RESULTS Refractive error was found to be the most common cause of ocular morbidity (38.05%), followed by allergic conjunctivitis (21.38%), and oculosporidiosis (rhinosporidiosis) (7.70%). Among the congenital anomalies, congenital cataract topped the list. CONCLUSIONS The most common cause of ocular morbidity were refractive errors and allergic conjunctivitis. Among the other causes, most of the diseases were either avoidable or preventable. So, proper health education in the community is a must to prevent the ocular morbidities in children.
