| Abstract [eng] |
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Visual Disturbances among 5th - 12th Grades Schoolchildren in Anykščiai Town Schools Goals: 1. To determine subjective schoolchildren’s health according to schoolchildrens themselves and their parents assessment; 2. To determine prevalence of vision disorders and their risk factors according to schoolchildrens and their parents provided information; 3. To evaluate risk factors for children’s vision disorders according to the information provided by schoolchildrens and their parent. Research methods. Questionnaires of 725 students from Antanas Baranauskas, Jonas Biliunas and Antanas Vienuolis schools as well as questionnaires of 723 schoolchildren’s parents were used for analysis. IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0, Excel 2010 program were used for statistical analysis of data. Pearson’s chi square test was used for categorical data comparison. Statistically significant level was chosen p<0.05. To evaluate relationship between vision disorders and schoolchildren’s gender, grade and school type prevalence ratio and its 95% confidence interval was calculated. Binary logistics regression method was applied for hypothetical risk factor effect on rise of vision disorders. Results. According to schoolchildren’s provided information, 32.1% schoolchildren have vision disorders. Girls have higher risk to suffer from vision disorders than boys (PR=1,33). The highest prevalence of vision disorders is among 8-th to 10-th grades – 40.3 percent. (95% PI=0.28 - 0.40). The biggest number of vision disorders is among J. Biliunas middle school schoolchildren – 57,1 percent. (95% PI=0.29 - 0.42). There was no statistically significant risk factor effect on rise of vision disorders, however, results show that schoolchildren who spend more than one hour a day doing homework have 1.18 times higher risk to develop vision disorders. Prevalence of vision disorders according to the data of parents poll is similar to the one provided by schoolchildren. Conclusions. The biggest majority of schoolchildren assess their health as good. Children with vision disorders assess their health as being worse than those who do not have vision disorders. According schoolchildren provided information, it was determined that girls have higher risk of getting vision disorders than boys. The highest prevalence of vision disorders is among 8-th to 10-th grade schoolchildren, while the lowest is among 5-th through 7-th grades.The highest prevalence of vision disorders is among J. Biliunas high school schoolchildren. To schoolchildren’s knowledge possible reasons for vision disorders might be: inheritance, excessive use of computer and mobile phone, excessive TV watching, reading too long or reading in a poor light. |
