Prevalences of ocular conditions among Hispanic, white, Asian, and black immigrant students examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic.
Voo, I; Lee, D A; Oelrich, F O
Why this matters
Screening immigrant children can reveal patterns of unmet need that routine care has missed. Among 2,229 newly immigrated students examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic, girls had higher rates of astigmatism and myopia than boys, and Asian students had higher rates of myopia than Hispanic students.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: First-and second-generation immigrant children are the fastest-growing component of the U.S. population under 15 years of age. Prevalences of ocular conditions in first-generation immigrant children are described, stratified by ethnicity and sex, and compared to previous UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic (MEC) studies and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. METHODS: Clinical data from 2,229 newly immigrated students, ages 8 to 16 years of age, examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic from 1990-1996, were analyzed by chi-squares test. RESULTS: Females have significantly higher prevalences of astigmatism (p = 0.003) and myopia (p = 0.001) than males. Asians have significantly higher prevalences of myopia (p < 0.001) and visual acuity worse than 20/40 without correction (p < 0.001) than Hispanics. CONCLUSIONS: Overall ocular health of this sample is very close to that of age-matched U.S. children, but with markedly lower prevalences of extraocular muscle imbalance and color vision deficiencies. Examiners should be aware of the higher rate of astigmatism and myopia in first-generation female immigrants, as well as the higher prevalence of myopia among Asians.