[A study of refractive errors in a primary school in Cotonou, Benin].

Purpose: Determine the epidemiologic aspects and the degree of severity of different refractive errors in primary schoolchildren.

Patients And Methods: A prospective and descriptive study was conducted from 1 December 2005 to 31 March 2006 on schoolchildren ranging from 4 to 16 years of age in a public primary school in Cotonou, Benin. The refraction was evaluated for any visual acuity lower than or equal to 0.7.

Results: The study included 1057 schoolchildren. The average age of the study population was 8.5+/-2.6 years with a slight predominance of females (51.8%). The prevalence of refractive error was 10.6% and astigmatism accounted for the most frequent refractive anomaly (91.9%). Myopia and the hyperopia were associated with astigmatism in 29.4% and 16.1% of the cases, respectively. The age bracket from 6 to 11 years accounted for the majority of refractive errors (75.9%), without age and sex being risk factors (p=0.811 and p=0.321, respectively). The average vision of the ametropic eye was 0.61, with a clear predominance of slight refractive errors (89.3%) and particularly of low-level simple astigmatism (45.5%).

Conclusion: The relatively low prevalence of refractive error observed does not obviate the need for implementing actions to improve the ocular health of schoolchildren.