Comparison of the frequency behavioral disorders in 5-12 year old children with and without refractive errors in Tehran City

Refractive error is a deficiency or failure of the optical surfaces of the eye to focus images clearly on the retina. In addition there may be eye strain, headache, and fatigue; and severe forms may result in strabismus and amblyopia. These problems may end in learning disabilities and low intelligence and precipitate behavioral disorders.Previous studies have shown that learning disabilities in children may be due to visual or hearing disorders. Behavior disorders are also seen in blinds. However we didn`t find any study about the incidence of behavioral disorders in primary school children with refractive errors. In the present study we evaluated the frequency of behavioral disorders in children with refractive error. One hundred thirty children who were referred to a governmental and one private eye clinic in Tehran underwent comprehensive ocular examinations including evaluation of visual acuity with and without glasses, refraction with and without cycloplegic eye drops, strabismus and other ocular diseases. We used Persian translation of Rutters` questionnaire for evaluation behavioral disorder in these children. The data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software. Data in 65 normal and 65 cases with refractive errors were evaluated. Overally the rate of behavioral disorders was 22.3% which was higher in cases with refractive errors (29.2%) in comparison to normal cases (15.4%) (P=0.05). The frequency of behavioral disorders in 5-12 year old children with refractive errors was higher in comparison to normal cases. However, there was not any statistically significant difference between genders.