Research
Prevalence of Refractive Errors in School-Age Children in Burkina Faso
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of refractive errors in school-age children in Burkina Faso, west-central Africa.
The study examined 388 children belonging mainly to two ethnic groups, Bwaba and Mossi.
The total prevalence of myopia was 0.5% (2/388), hyperopia was 4.9% (19/388), bilateral hyperopia was 3.4% (13/388), astigmatism was 7.0% (27/388), bilateral astigmatism was 1.5% (6/388), and anisometropia was 0.5% (2/388).
There was a very low prevalence of myopia in Burkina Faso, clinically significant hyperopia was also uncommon. These results agree with other studies on populations with low literacy and a nonurban.