Pattern of strabismus in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria: a six-year review

Abstract

Background: Strabismus (ocular misalignment) is frequently seen in clinical practice.  Its prevalence varies in different parts of the world with no sex predilection. Stabismus is a significant cause of ocular morbidity. Esotropia is often the commonest form of presentation among children.

Aim: To determine the frequency and clinical features of patients presenting with strabismus in the ophthalmic clinic a past 6-year period.

Methods: This was a hospital based study of all the patients diagnosed having strabismus in University of Port Harcourt Teaching hospital between January 2007 and December 2013. The medical records of a total of 74 patients who visited the ophthalmic clinic and diagnosed as having strabismus were retrospectively reviewed and subsequently analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 computer soft ware package.  Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics committee of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.

Results: A total of 12,334 case files were reviewed in this study. Five thousand one hundred and eighty-one (42%) were males and 7,153 (58%) females. A total of 74 cases had strabismus (0.6%). Twenty- three were  males and 51 females (M:F=1:2.2). Twenty-eight (37.8%) had alternating squint, twenty- three (31.1%) had esotropia,   twenty- one (28.4%) had exotropia and two (2.7%) had hypertropia.

Conclusion: This study confirmed the relatively high frequency of alternating squint and esotropia in patients with strabismus.

Keywords:   Strabismus, Prevalence, Pattern