摘要：As uncorrected refractive errors contribute a large to avoidable visual impairment, these are considered as a major public health issue. Refractive errors can easily and cost effectively be corrected with spectacles even than prevalence of unmet need for refractive correction is high among school children. To determine the prevalence of unmet need for refractive correction and associated factors among secondary school children of Islamabad, Pakistan. In a across sectional study cluster sampling was done in 8 secondary schools of Islamabad. Vision screening of all the students in selected clusters was done with the help of Snellen chart. Students with visual acuity ? 6/12 underwent auto-refraction and subjective refraction by a trained optometrist. Of the 1430 screened students, 16.78% needed refractive correction and 12.37% had an unmet need for refractive correction. Estimated unmet need was 6.64% in myopes, 2.45% in hyperopes, 2.24% in myopic astigmatism and 1.05 % in hyperopic astigmatism. The results of univariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age group, father’s education level and refractive errors were not significantly correlated with the unmet need. The prevalence of unmet need for refractive correction was found to be significantly correlated with unaided VA categories with p value .000< 0.1. Odds of unmet need were 5 times higher in vision category of 6/12-6/24 as compared with vision category of 6/36 - <6/60. Prevalence of unmet need for refractive correction was found high among secondary school children of Islamabad. Correction of refractive errors among these children can improve their school performance and quality of life.
关键词：Visual Acuity;Visual Impairment;Refractive Errors;Unmet need
