Delta Journal of Ophthalmology · Published 2026-04-01 · DOI 10.4103/djo.djo_46_25
Background The rising incidence of refractive errors, including myopia, hypermetropia, and astigmatism has posed a major public health challenge in the Middle East, including Oman, especially among the child and adolescent population. Aim This study aimed to evaluate the refractive status among the school student population in Al Buraimi Governorate, Oman. Patients and methods This is a quantitative, prospective, school-based study that recruited 397 student population from four randomly selected schools within Al Buraimi Governorate through stratified random sampling. An ocular examination, including refraction, was conducted to examine the participants’ refractive status. Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the demographic variables. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between age and the mean spherical equivalent of both eyes of the participants. Results Out of the 397-student study population, 219 (55.16%) were males and 178 (44.84%) were females. The participants’ age ranged from 6 to 18 years with a mean of 12.11±3.30 years. Refractive errors were detected in 107 (26.95%) of the participants, with myopia prevalence being the highest (70=17.63%) followed by hypermetropia (37=9.32%). The prevalence of myopia was significantly higher among the higher secondary student population (38=33.63%) compared with the primary school student population (P<0.001). The age and mean spherical equivalent of both eyes showed a significant weak negative correlation (r=−0.206, P<0.001). Conclusion Refractive errors were detected in 26.95% of the participants. Myopia prevalence was observed to be higher (17.63%) followed by hypermetropia (9.32%). Most of the students having refractive errors had low myopia (17.38%).
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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