Características clínicas de los pacientes pediátricos con defectos refractivos. Fundación DONUM, Cuenca, 2019

Abstract

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of pediatric patients with refractive errors at the “Fundación DONUM”, Cuenca, 2019. Methodology: A descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out in 119 pediatric patients who met the inclusion criteria. The quantitative method was used and the review of medical records was used as a technique. To process the data, the Excel program was used with subsequent analysis in the IBM SPSS Statistics program, the results are presented in simple tables of frequency and percentages Results: A total of 36.1% of patients belong to the age group between 8 and 12 years old, 52.9% belong to the male sex, 85.7% are mestizo, 67.2% reside in Cuenca, 67.2% study primary school, and 52.1% referred decreased visual acuity as a reason for consultation. Hyperopic astigmatism was found as the most frequent refractive error (45.4% and 47.2%). A 51.3% did not refer previous optical correction, and 23.5% presented refractive amblyopia. Conclusions: Most of the patients are male, mestizos, residents of Cuenca, attending elementary school, with some type of previous refractive defect. Myopia is the most common family ophthalmological history. Decreased visual acuity was the most common reason for consultation. Hyperopic astigmatism was the most frequent in both eyes. Almost half presented optical correction, while refractive amblyopia is present in a fifth part of the sample. Key words: Refractive errors. Myopia. Astigmatism. Hyperopia.