DR. SAMAPTY CHOWDHURY

DR. MOUSUMI BANERJEE, DR. INDRAJIT SARKAR

Abstract

Ocular morbidies affecting the youth have been on rising trend in digital age and have increased dramatically since COVID19 due to increased screen time.

AIMS: To estimate the prevalence of ocular morbidities in children under 18 years.

To compare the change in prevalence of these before and after COVID19 outbreak.

A cross-sectional prospective study was carried out from January 2018 to June 2022, among children under 18 years who have attended Ophthalmology OPD. Statistical analysis was done(P ≤0.05 statically significant)

Among 24628 youngsters of defined age group 13054(53%) were male and 11574(47%) were female with an overall mean age of 14.6±2 SD. Among them 5202(21.12%) had refractive error(RE), 275(1.11%) had dry eye disease(DED) whereas allergic conjunctivitis and lid adnexal disorders were prevalent in 738(3%) and 248(1%) respectively. An accelerated trend in prevalence of RE(↑2.17%) and DED(↑1.5%) noted whereas nothing significant changes were seen in other ocular diseases.