AIM:To observe and study the distribution of ametropia in 1 170 preschool children with low vision.

METHODS:Ten kindergartens in the urban area of Jinzhou were randomly selected. For the preschool children aged from 3 to 6, the vision conditions including sight test, ocular inspection, refraction status, conventional ophthalmic testing and stereo tests were conducted. The children with vision<0.8 received the mydriatic optometry test.

RESULTS:(1)rates of abnormal vision were 6.37% in children aged 3,7.79% in those aged 4,15.24% in those aged 5 and 8.93% in those aged 6; abnormal rate in children aged 5 was significantly higher than those in the other age groups(P<0.05);(2)eye diseases:for children with low vision, proportion of patients with ametropia was 95.61%, the rate of hyperopia was 71.67%, in which hyperopia accounted for 75.00% in those aged 3, 78.26% in those aged 4, 75.44% in those aged 5 and 54.17% in those aged 6; the rate of myopia was 17.50%, in which myopia accounted for 6.25% in those aged 3,13.04% in those aged 4,17.54% in those aged 5 and 29.17% in those aged 6; the rate of mixed astigmatism was 10.83%, in which mixed astigmatism accounted for 18.75% in those aged 3,8.70% in those aged 4,7.02% in those aged 5 and 16.67% in those aged 6;(3)amblyopia:prevalence of amblyopia was 4. 27%. According to survey results, anisometropia accounted for 36.00%, in which the rate of mild, moderate and severe cases were 66.67%, 27.78% and 5.56% respectively; strabismus accounted for 16.00%, in which the rate of mild, moderate and severe cases were 25.00%,62.50% and 12.50%; form-deprivation accounted for 2.00%, in which the rate of mild, moderate and severe cases were 0%,0% and 100.00%.

CONCLUSION:For preschool children with low vision, the abnormal rate is reduced with the increasing ages since the vision is gradually mature. Based on the results, hyperopia is the main causes for low vision in preschool children(aged from 3 to 6). Based on the factors of myopia, strabismus and amblyopia, it is important to conduct the general survey in curing eye diseases as early as possible.