Pattern and Distribution of Ocular Morbidity in Primary School Children of Rural Delhi

A total of 679 primary school children drawn from developed southern parts and underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi were examined for ocular morbidity. Their age range was 5-15 years and both sexes had almost equal representation. The prevalence of eye diseases was relatively high. Over 40 percent of all the children studied had one or more ocular problems. Trachoma (18%) was the most common ocular morbidity followed by vitamin A deficiency (10.6%), visual acuity < 6/9 (7.4%) and apparent/latent squint (7.4%). In most of these eye disorders, the majority of the children came from the underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi. Ocular morbidity seems to be unevenly distributed in rural Delhi with a significantly worse picture in the underdeveloped eastern parts, across the river 'Yamuna'. Though blinding trachoma may cease to be a major problem in India, the country continues to have endemic pockets of its non-blinding form. One puzzling observation was that children with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) did not show any specific vulnerability to ocular diseases. In fact, those with normal weight-height index were having a higher share of eye diseases. Though this issue needs to be explored further in the light of biological plausibility, it appears that children who do not have PEM are also exposed to ocular diseases at least with comparable risk.