Research
Relationship Between Habitual Refractive Errors and Headache Complaints in School Children
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between habitual refractive errors and headache complaints in School children.
This was a cross-sectional study of 487 children aged 11 to 13 years.
Discovered for the right eye was 15% habitual myopia <─ 0.50 D and 12% habitual hyperopia >+ 0.50 D; habitual astigmatism >0.25 D was found in 33% of children.
Pearson R between right and left eyes was 0.76 for the spherical component and 0.42 for the cylindrical.
In the total group of children 70% reported the occurrence of headache in the last year.
Headaches were reported as “often or frequent” by 37% of children, “severe” by 15%, “with long duration” by 45%, and “with severe burden” by 27%.
There are various associations between gender, sphere/cylinder components of habitual RE, and headache complaints.
From the total participants, headache was reported more in girls than in boys.
Of the total variance of headache complaints in girls, the sphere component of habitual RE explained 4% of frequency, 6% of intensity, 2% of duration, and 2% of amount of burden.
Of the total variance of headache complaints in boys the cylinder component of habitual RE explained 3% of frequency, and 4% in amount of burden.
Habitual RE and headache complaints are relatively common conditions in school children aged between 11 and 13 years.
This article was identified as a reference for a VII-commissioned systematic review on the Impact of URE on Children.