{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T18:42:03Z","timestamp":1778784123657,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"African Journals Online (AJOL)","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Ethiop J Health Sci"],"abstract":"<jats:p>BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine the causes and distribution of vision impairment and refractive error among children in Zimbabwe.METHODS: A hospital-based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among children (3-16) who attended the Eye Institute, Harare, Zimbabwe, from January 2010 to December 2020. Patients\u2019 records were collated, and variables such as visual acuity, ocular morbidities, and vision impairment were analysed.RESULTS: During this time, 1038 children with mean age of 10.63 \u00b1 3.54 years visited the facility. The majority of them were males (53.2%). Prior to treatment, 9.9% of the children had vision impairment which reduced to 3.5% after intervention. Uncorrected refractive error accounted for the majority of vision impairment (67.0%), followed by keratoconus (7.8%), corneal opacity\/ulceration (6.8%), and amblyopia (6.8%), among other conditions. Astigmatism (60.6%) was the most prevalent type of refractive error followed by myopia (37.5%).CONCLUSION: The prevalence of childhood vision impairment is higher than that found in similar hospital-based studies conducted in Africa. The most common reason for childhood vision impairment was uncorrected refractive error.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4314\/ejhs.v32i4.8","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]],"date-time":"2022-09-22T11:18:00Z","timestamp":1663845480000},"page":"723-728","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Childhood vision impairment and refractive error in Zimbabwe: A hospital-based retrospective study"],"prefix":"10.4314","volume":"32","author":[{"given":"Michael Agyemang","family":"Kwarteng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chido Cleopatra","family":"Katsvanga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samuel","family":"Kyei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2895","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,18]]},"container-title":["Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ejhs\/article\/download\/232134\/219249","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ejhs\/article\/download\/232134\/219249","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]],"date-time":"2022-09-22T11:18:38Z","timestamp":1663845518000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ejhs\/article\/view\/232134"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,18]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,20]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4314\/ejhs.v32i4.8","relation":{},"ISSN":["2413-7170","1029-1857"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2413-7170","type":"electronic"},{"value":"1029-1857","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,18]]}}}