Prevalence of Congenital Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) in School Children of Bhaktapur, Nepal

Abstract

Background: The incidence of congenital colour vision deficiency shows different trends and may vary in different geographical areas. Colour plays vital role in daily life functioning but there is no effective screening for Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) at any school level. The school children with CVD may feel difficulty in identifying colour figures, lab instruments and specimens which may lead to failure in the examination. Not only this they may find difficulty in daily life functioning so, this study is aimed to find out the incidence of CVD in school children. Methods: A total of 585 school children including 312 males and 273 females between ages 10-16 years were examined for congenital CVD in different schools of Bhaktapur. Each school child was shown the complete range of Ishihara’s plates under day light conditions at distance of 75 cm and each plate was shown to them for duration of 5 seconds. Results: Children’s colour vision was tested using Ishihara’s 38 Plates edition. Among 312 boys, 16(5.12%) were colour deficient. Among 273 girls, 7(2.56%) were colour deficient. Conclusion: With this incidence of colour vision deficiency it shows the importance of screening for CVD in school children and counseling them for daily life functioning and making aware about the choice of career in future.