Purpose
The study was designed to compare refractive error findings in Hispanic and African American children aged 6-7 years and 11-12 years who were seen in a community based vision clinic serving the Chicago Public School students.
Methods
This retrospective cross-sectional study looked at the autorefraction findings (dry and cycloplegic) in the Hispanic and African American children seen at the Illinois Eye Institute at Princeton School-based vision clinic from Jan 2011 through Aug 2012. The study was limited to 6-7 year olds and 11-12 years old children seen for exams. A univariate analysis of right eye only was done for dry and wet cylinder, sphere, and spherical equivalent. In addition, a comparison of each variable with age (young versus older subjects) was included to observe if shifts in refractive error occurred over time.
Results
Subjects included 974 Hispanics (n-356, 6-7 yr olds, n-618, 11-12 yr olds) and 1642 African Americans (n-552, 6-7 yr olds, n-1090, 11-12 yr olds). Univariate analysis compariing findings between each age group and each race showed a significant difference (p<0.001) in refractive cylinder in both dry and wet states but no difference in sphere or spehrical equivalent with the Hispanic subjects showing more cylinder. The data also showed a significant myopic shift from the younger age group to the older group (p<.005). Means (standard deviations) in dopters of each variavle are found in the following table:
Conclusions
Hispanic children show significantly more cylinder in both dry and cycloplegic states than African American children. This finding is in agreement with literature on refractive error in these races reported in other geographic areas in the US. In addition, a myopic shift is seen in the subjects frm the age of 6-7 years to the age of 11-12 years. Limitations include the fact that this is a cross-sectional and not a longitudinal study.
Keywords: 428 astigmatism •
677 refractive error development