Copyright (c) 2024 Revista médico científica
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
OBJECTIVES: Refractive errors are a serious health problem. Medical students depend on their visual system to lay a solid foundation of fundamental knowledge in the practice of the medical profession. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism in medical students at the University of Panama.
METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional descriptive observational study.
The universe was the medical students from the University of Panama in basic, preclinical, and clinical cycles which correspond to 1370 students, between the months of October and November 2021.
The calculation of the sample was 301 students. A simple, randomized design was used. A questionnaire was applied to medical students from the University of Panama in the basic, preclinical or clinical cycle. For the database, data analysis, and preparation of tables and graphs, the Microsoft Excel program was used. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Panama.
RESULTS: A total of 349 responses were obtained, of which 19 were omitted because they did not meet the inclusion criteria, leaving 330 participants. A total of 221 students (66.9%) reported having some refractive error, being myopia plus astigmatism being the most prevalent in 33.9% (n=112), followed by myopia in 23.3% (n=77) and astigmatism in 6.36% (n=21).
CONCLUSION: There was a high prevalence of refractive errors and an increased need for the use of corrective lenses on the students.
