A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MYOPIA PREVALENCE AMONG MADARSA STUDENTS VS NON-MADARSA STUDENTS IN SUKKUR
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71000/y5mdga21Keywords:
Myopia, Refractive Error, Prevalence.Abstract
Purpose: To compare the prevalence of myopia among Madarsa and school students in Sukkur.
Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study, conducted at Al Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, included students aged 5–21 years from schools and Madrasas in Sukkur. The sample size was 364, with 10% dropout rate; 328 participants met the eligibility criteria. After consent, participants underwent visual acuity testing and refractive error assessment.
Results: Myopia prevalence was high in both groups, with no significant difference for right eye (p = 0.750, OR = 0.658), left eye (p = 0.750, OR = 0.658), or either eye (p = 0.685, OR = 0.494). Mean spherical equivalent was −1.2 D (OD) and −1.1 D (OS), axial length ≈ 26.6 mm, and mean distance visual acuity 0.39–0.51 LogMAR. Significant differences were found in right-eye spherical refraction (p = 0.042) and axial length (OD p = 0.007, OS p = 0.002), while other visual, refractive, and biometric parameters showed no significant variation.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, myopia prevalence was high in both school and madrassa students, with no significant difference for the right eye, left eye, or either eye. Most visual acuity, refractive, and biometric parameters were similar, except for longer axial length in school students and slightly higher myopic spherical refraction in madrassa students’ right eyes, indicating group type was not a strong predictor of myopia.
Registration No: NCT06913972
References
Srivastava T, Kumar A, Shukla E, Singh V, Anuranjani L. Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among School-Going Children in Urban Versus Rural Areas. Cureus. 2024 Apr;16(4).
Gessesse SA, Teshome AW. Prevalence of myopia among secondary school students in Welkite town: South-Western Ethiopia. BMC ophthalmology. 2020 Dec;20:1-6.
Kumar R. Prevalence of Refractive Errors in Rural Areas. International Journal of Nursing & Care. 2023 Oct 30;1(2):1-0.
Morjaria P, Bergson S, Bastawrous A, Watts E, Pant S, Gudwin E, Zinn M, Chan VF. Delivering refractive care to populations with near and distance vision impairment: 2 novel social enterprise models. Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. 2022 Jan 1;11(1):59-65.
Assem AS, Tegegne MM, Fekadu SA. Prevalence and associated factors of myopia among school children in Bahir Dar city, Northwest Ethiopia, 2019. PLoS One. 2021 Mar 22;16(3):e0248936.
Gebru EA, Mekonnen KA. Prevalence and factors associated with myopia among high school students in Hawassa City, South Ethiopia, 2019. Clinical Optometry. 2022 Mar 10:35-43.
Zhang J, Li Z, Ren J, Wang W, Dai J, Li C, Huang X, Sun X, Liu L, Wang C. Prevalence of myopia: A large-scale population-based study among children and adolescents in weifang, china. Frontiers in public health. 2022 Jul 25;10:924566.
Zhou Y, Huang XB, Cao X, Wang M, Jin NX, Gong YX, Xiong YJ, Cai Q, Zhu Y, Song Y, Sun ZM. Prevalence of myopia and influencing factors among high school students in Nantong, China: A cross-sectional study. Ophthalmic Research. 2023 May 2;66(1):27-38.
Ovenseri-Ogbomo G, Osuagwu UL, Ekpenyong BN, Agho K, Ekure E, Ndep AO, Ocansey S, Mashige KP, Naidoo KS, Ogbuehi KC. Systematic review and meta-analysis of myopia prevalence in African school children. PLoS One. 2022 Feb 3;17(2):e0263335.
Wang J, Li Y, Musch DC, Wei N, Qi X, Ding G, Li X, Li J, Song L, Zhang Y, Ning Y. Progression of myopia in school-aged children after COVID-19 home confinement. JAMA ophthalmology. 2021 Mar 1;139(3):293-300.
Rehman AU, Sughra U, Kausar S, Riaz A, Suleman M. Uncorrected Refractive Error among Male Students of Madrassas in Rawalpindi–Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology. 2022 Jun 18;38(2).
Arbab TM, Iqbal S, Sami-ur-Rehman Khan MA. Myopia and Near Work Activity in Maderassa Children in Karachi. Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology. 2008 Sep 30;24(3).
Malik MH, Mohydin M, Saeed A, Arif M, Malik MA, Mohydin S, Sami AM. Prevalence and risk factors of myopia among medical students. Pakistan journal of medical & health sciences. 2022 Mar 24;16(02):173-.
Bremond-Gignac D. Myopia in children. Medecine Sciences: M/S. 2020 Aug 21;36(8-9):763-8.
Hu X, Yuan X, Li H, Gong H, Fu Z, Xie Y, Wang L, Rui D. Trends in myopia prevalence among children and adolescents: a large-scale cross-sectional study in Shihezi, China. BMC Public Health. 2025 Dec;25(1):1-8.
Wang X, Zeng L, Xian Y, Xin M, Shan Q, Li W, Lv L, Liu Y, Zhang R, Song K, Tian X. Prevalence of myopia and refractive parameters among children and adolescents in Hi-tech District of Chengdu City. Frontiers in Pediatrics. 2025 Feb 3;12:1502660.
Khan S, Shah M, Jan S, Hassan J, Khan A. Frequency of Myopia and its Associated Risk Factors among Madrassa Students in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology. 2025 Jul 1;41(3).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Khizar Abbas, Sidra Anwar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
