Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2019;5(4):466–469 Content available at: iponlinejournal.com Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Journal homepage: www.innovativepublication.com Original Research Article Prevalence of xerophthalmia and coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis programme in slums of rural and urban communities amongst children less than 6 years of age Radhika Paranjpe 1 , Varsha Manade 1, *, Neha Kulkarni 1 , Saurabh Oza 1 , Madhuri Khandelwal 1 1 Dept. of Ophthalmology, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 26-04-2019 Accepted 28-08-2019 Available online 27-11-2019 Keywords: Vitamin A Xerophthalmia Night blindness Prevalence ABSTRACT Purpose: To determine the prevalence of xerophthalmia in a high risk age group of ch ildren less than 6 years of age and to assess the coverage of prophylaxis so that the efficiency of vitamin A prophylaxis programme can be analysed. Design: A cross sectional study was conducted from 15th June 2015 to 15th August 2015. Materials and Methods: 442 children aged 0-6 years were enrolled in a cross-sectiona l study from randomly selected anganwadis in 3 urban and rural communities. Parents/caregivers were interviewed about night blindness and other symptoms of xerophthalmia, consumption of vitamin A rich foods, history of vitamin A supplementation till date of examination, measles vaccination status. Children were examined for manifestations of xerophthalmia and were classified according to their ocular signs as per WHO criteria. Results: Out of 442 children 232 were male and 210 were female. Out of 442 children, 403 (93.73%) were given vitamin A supplements by the age of 6 years. Out of 442 children, none complained of day or night blindness. N o child had Bitot’s spots, corneal xerosis, scars or keratomalacia, but 6 children had bilateral conjunctival xerosis. The prevalence rate of conjunctival xerosis is 1.35%. The prevalence rate of xerophthalmia according to its ocular manifestations as given by WHO, is 0%. Conclusion: A prevalence rate of xerophthalmia 0% is indicative of the success of the vitamin A prophylaxis programme and coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis 93.73% can be attributed to the efficient implementation of the programme by the anganwadi workers. © 2019 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 1. Introduction Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health nutrition problem in the developing world. It causes a spectrum of diseases ranging from ocular to systemic manifestations. Xerophthalmia (dry eye) refers to all ocular manifestations of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). It includes not only the structural changes affecting the conjunctiva, cornea and occasionally the retina, but also the biophysical disorders of retinal rods and cones functions. 1 Xerophthalmia can occur in any age group, however, the highest incidence has been observed in preschool children. It has been previously estimated that globally 127 million preschool- * Corresponding author. E-mail address: dr.varsha.ghatge@gmail.com (V. Manade). aged children under 5 years of age are vitamin A deficient (serum retinol <0.7 mol/l or having abnormal impression cytology), of which 4.4 million have xerophthalmia. 2 The largest numbers of vitamin A deficient children live in India, that is, 35.3 million. Forty per cent of all preschool-aged children with xerophthalmia (1.8 million) in the developing world live in India, a number that also accounts for 88% of all cases in South and Southeast Asia. 3 Current prevalence of manifestations of xerophthalmia is about 0.8% which ranges from nil in Kerala to a maximum of 1.2-1.4% in states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. 44 The prevalence was higher than WHO cut off level of 0.5% indicating its public health significance. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of xerophthalmia in children <6 years in slums of rural and https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijceo.2019.111 2395-1443/© 2019 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 466