@article{Ntizahuvye S, Onyango J_2023, title={Prevalence of strabismus and the outcomes of its management among children attending Ruharo Eye Center, South Western Uganda}, volume={15}, url={https://joecsa.coecsa.org/index.php/joecsa/article/view/265}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background:</strong> Strabismus consists of any deviation of binocular alignment and is present in 2 to 4% of the<br>world’s child population. Strabismus can be both the cause and the effect of poor binocularity. When it appears<br>in the early years of life, strabismus may lead to states of sensorial adaptation such as retinoic correspondence<br>anomaly and amblyopia given that binocular single vision has a critical role in maintaining alignment. On the<br>other hand, if strabismus arises after binocular vision development, diplopia and image confusion appear, which<br>persist indefinitely or until motor alteration is corrected.<br><br><strong>Aim:</strong> To determine prevalence of strabismus and outcomes of its management among children attending<br>Ruharo Eye Center, South western, Uganda from January 2014 to December 2015.<br><br><strong>Methods:</strong> In this retrospective descriptive study, medical records of all strabismus patients aged below 16<br>years seen at Ruharo Eye Center, South western, Uganda from January 2014 to December 2015, were reviewed.<br>Information was collected on demographic characteristics, refractive errors, types of strabismus, management<br>and outcomes.<br><br><strong>Results:</strong> A total of 8,665 children were seen at REC during the period from January 2014 to December 2015. Of<br>these, 125 children had strabismus thus a prevalence of 1.4%. There were 56 males (44%) and 69 females (55%)<br>with mean age of 14 years, from 4 months to 15 years. Twenty nine children (23.2%) had amblyopia and eighty<br>six children (68.8%) had refractive errors of more than 0.5 diopter. Patients with hypermetropia were 45 (36.0%),<br>myopia 38 (30.4%) and astigmatism 3(2.4%). Esotropia accounted for 80% and exotropia 20% and both were the<br>common types. In our study, the management of strabismus cases included: glasses (30), eye patching (30) and<br>surgery (34). Of the 34 patients operated, post-operative alignment was achieved in 25 cases (73.53%) and under<br>correction occurring in 17.65%.<br><br><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The prevalence of paediatric strabismus at Ruharo Eye Center was 1.4%. The most common type of<br>paediatric strabismus in this study was esotropia. The surgical success rate was generally good.</p>}, number={01}, journal={The Journal of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa}, author={Ntizahuvye S, Onyango J}, year={2023}, month={Apr.} }