Prevalence of refractive errors and visual impairment in university students

PurposeTo determine the prevalence of refractive errors and visual impairment in a population of university students in Kazerun, south of IranMethodsUsing multi‐stage sampling in all universities located in Kazerun, a number of university majors were selected as clusters. Then, proportional to the size, a number of students in each major were randomly selected to participate in the study. All participants underwent the measurement of visual acuity, non‐cycloplegic and subjective refraction, and corrected visual acuity. A spherical equivalent equal to or worse than −0.5 D and + 0.5 D was considered myopia and hyperopia, respectively. Astigmatism was defined as a cylinder power worse than −0.5 D. Visual impairment was defined as visual acuity worse than 20/60 in the better eye.ResultsOf 1595 students that were invited, 1462 participated in the study (response rate = 91.66%). The prevalence of visual impairment was 2.19% (95% CI: 1.48–3.23), of whom 1.92% (95% CI: 1.27–2.88) had low vision and 0.27% (95% CI: 0.12–0.62) were blind. Refractive errors comprised 75% of the causes of visual impairment. The prevalence (95% CI) of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism was 42.71% (39.71–45.77), 3.75% (2.85–4.51) and 29.46% (27.50–31.50), respectively. Totally, 49.03% (95% CI: 46.39–51.68) of the participants had at least one refractive error. Myopia and hyperopia were not correlated with age and gender. The odds of astigmatism in participants aged 26–27 years (OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.03–2.61) was higher than subjects aged 18–19 years.ConclusionsThe prevalence of refractive errors, especially myopia is low in university students. Since refractive errors constitute a major part of visual impairment, university students should receive optical services to reduce their burden.