Prevalence of visual impairment and associated factors among primary school children in Ambo Town, Ethiopia, 2021

Background: Visual impairment is a functional limitation of the eye(s) or the visual system manifested as reduced visual acuity. At least 2.2 billion people have visual impairment worldwide, and 90% of people with visual impairment have either preventable or treatable causes with cost-effective interventions. Objectives: To assess magnitude of visual impairment and associated factors among primary school children in Ambo Town, Ethiopia, in 2021. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected primary schools of Ambo Town. A simple random sampling technique was used to select schools and study participants. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and entered into Epidata version 3.1 for analysis by using SPSS version 23. Binary logistic regression was adopted to identify statistically significant factors which were associated with visual impairment. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to evaluate how well the logistic regression model fits to the data. Results: About 780 out of 838 primary school children were enrolled in the study, yielding a response rate of 93.07%. The estimated prevalence of visual impairment was 8.8% with 95% CI: 6.81–10.79. The main risk factor for visual impairment among primary school children were Students’ grade level, exposure to mobile screen, family history of visual problems, and family awareness about the status of their child’s eye problems were significantly associated with visual impairments (AOR = 2.375, 95% CI: 1.079–5.226; AOR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.401–5.01; AOR = 2.41, 95% CI: 1.071–5.42; and AOR = 4.503, 95% CI: 2.12–9.55, respectively). Conclusion: A high prevalence of visual impairment was observed among primary school children. Attending higher grades, being exposed to mobile screen, and having a family history of visual problems were significantly associated with visual impairment.