Prevalences of ocular conditions among Hispanic, white, Asian, and black immigrant students examined by the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic

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.