Refractive Error in Juvenile Patients Presenting with Nystagmus at Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the types of refractive errors in nystagmus patients among the age (5-15 years) patients. Study Design and Setting: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted at Pediatric department of Al-Ibrahim Eye Hospital, Karachi from June 2018 to March 2019. Methodology: A total of 55 patients (110 eyes) were selected from study setting. The protocol for examination for all patients were evaluated at the special clinic of Orthoptics includes the demographic data, educational status, history of onset, type of nystagmus. The anterior segment was examined with a slit-lamp to exclude any other ocular disease. Orthoptic assessment includes cover uncover test, Hirschberg, ocular motility, prism cover test and pupillary reflex test, to observe any associated deviation. All the patients were examined after obtaining a fully informed consent. After the proper diagnosis of nystagmus patient was recruited as per inclusion and exclusion criteria with no restrictions of gender. All the observations were noted on a Proforma, Data analysis was done by using SPSS version 20. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 55 patients, 29 male (52.7%) and 26 female (47.3%) were selected. This study shows out of 55 patients (110 eyes), 46 (42%) eyes had myopic astigmatism, while 33 (30%) eyes were found hyperopic astigmatism, 20 (18%) eyes were observed hyperopic and 11 (10%) eyes were observed myopic. CONCLUSION: Most common type of refractive error in nystagmus was myopic astigmatism. The refractive correction should be encouraged in children with nystagmus; improvement in visual function is likely to occur