Refractive errors in medical student of Misan University

Refractive errors are becoming more of a problem in many countries, with prevalence rates in many Arabian regions countries reaching epidemic features.The study aimed to study the prevalence of various errors of refraction among the medical students of College of Medicine. This is a cross-sectional clinical study conducted at Misan University Ophthalmological Clinic over a period of 6 months. The study population comprised 377 students from different academic stages.The selected study population was explained the objectives of the study and a written consent form that stated the purpose, methods, risks, benefits, and the assurance of the confidentiality of the data was obtained from each student. After giving the consent,some of students was examined. The examination was carried out by an optometrist without using cycloplegia. Both right and left eyes were thoroughly examined by auto refractometer. We enrolled 377 students of our College and found that182(48.2%) were have refractory errors, of them, 34% males and 65.9% were females with significant difference (P=0.027). Regard, myopic errors was diagnosed in 144(79.1%) of students. Hyperopia was recorded in 3.2% of whole errors. The astigmatism presented in 17.6% of all students. Sometimes, we found that astigmatism was overrepresented in the myopic group. The refractive errors and mainly myopia seen to be increased with higher stages in our College from 39.% in the first stage to 79.3% in the sixth stage. Although most student prefer refractive surgery, but most of them uses glasses as 74.7%. Myopia found to be common error of refraction in young adults, followed by astigmatism, then hyperopia. A regular checkup is essential to timely correct the error, and to prevent deterioration of the vision.