Dr. Deepak Mishra, M12337, Dr.Prashant Bhushan,
Dr. Bibhuti Prassan Sinha, Dr.Nilesh Mohan
BACKGROUND:Xerophthalmia/ dry eye refers to all ocular manifestations ranging from night blindness to corneal melting due to vitamin A deficiency. Recognition of symptoms and signs of Xerophthalmia and prompt treatment according to the
International classification is the mainstay of the therapy. Children & pregnant women are primarily at risk
METHODS:It was a prospective clinical study done at 3 tertiary care centers of North India between 2010 to 2015, Cases were selected from routine OPD and children less than 6 years of age were examined by an ophthalmologist. Diagnosis and classification of Xerophthalmia was done according to WHO classification. All the data recording demographic profile, socioeconomic status, other health problems etc were recorded in a fixed proforma. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16.
RESULTS:Two thousand nine hundred forty six cases were included in the study after satisfying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The prevalence of night blindness was estimated to be 2.93% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 2.