Visual Impairments and Eye Morbidities Among School-age Children (5 to 18 Years Old) Qualitative Assessment in Dubai, UAE, 2016

Taryam MMO, Al Abadi K, Hussein HY*, Al Faisal W, Wasiful Alam M, AlBehandy NS

Background: Refractive errors are common in children and are the commonest cause of visual impairment around the world and the second leading cause of treatable blindness. As children progress in school, they face increasing demands on their visual abilities. Vision problems are common among school-age kids. According to Prevent Blindness America, one in four school-age children have vision problems that, if left untreated, can affect learning ability, personality and adjustment in school. Therefore, it is crucial to protect school aged children 5-18 sight.
Objective: To assess the extent of visual impairment and ocular morbidity and to identify influencing factors and key challenges for eye vision among school-aged children 5–18 years in Dubai. It is of particular importance to understand their needs and assess any gaps in eye care or services.
Methodology: Data sources are qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative source was from an in–depth interview with school health doctors, focusing on different eye health topics, and on how eye health problems vary within different age groups, nationalities, gender and other confounders. Quantitative data were derived from the official school health annual reports in concerns with student’s eye morbidities.
Results: Vision problems are common among school-age kids. School health officials said that in one of population-based crosssectional survey which was undertaken among 266343 students in Dubai, it was shown that there were 1008 cases of visual disorders in 2015-2016 academic years (3.8 per one thousand), whom they were diagnosed by ophthalmologists and enrolled in management program. Refractive errors are the most common cause of vision problems among school-age children in Dubai private schools. The main types of refractive errors are myopia (near sightedness), hyperopia (far sightedness), presbyopia (loss of near vision with age), and astigmatism. There are many environmental and genetics factors play a role in the development of vision disorders in children such as: family history, and premature birth. A number of neurodevelopment disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, hearing impairment and speech delay) also are associated with higher rates of vision problems. The most significant preventable risk factor for visual disorders in children is maternal smoking. Children of women who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy have higher rates of strabismus, hyperopic, and astigmatism.
Conclusion: The study concluded that visual impairments among school age children is not uncommon, most of the time under estimated and has not been screened systematically. Visual assessments at school level is not efficient enough to tackle visual impairment cases at earlier stages. Services wise, visual impairments at school level are underserved as based on absent of comprehensive and structured visual health program. School Eye health program and services with full component (early detection, management, awareness, monitoring) are of priority to be addressed for students in Dubai schools.

Visual Impairment Screening and Early Interventions Among Schooling Kids in Dubai Dubai-UAE-2016

Taryam MMO, Hussein HY, Al Faisal W *, AlBehandy NS, Elkouka N, Elawad SEF

Background: Amblyopia and strabismus can affect normal visual development at a critical period of visual development, resulting in irreversible vision loss. These conditions can reduce quality of life, function, and school performance. Identification of vision problems as early as possible could help identify children who might benefit from early interventions to correct or improve vision. Objectives: To identify children who are visually impaired, children with strabismus and/or amblyopia or at risk of developing them, and other noticeable impairments among healthy looking children.
Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out on randomly selected sample of 316 students, age rang (6-11 Years old) (grade 1 and 5). Visual assessment has been carried out by three well trained and experienced optometrists from Dubai Hospital and primary health care sector services at Dubai health Authority. Assessment setting was (Al Sadiq Private school clinic and two clinics sets by Noor Dubai Mobile clinic already installed in school for two successive days (fully furnished with vision assessment equipments) and optometrists. A Snellen 6/9 Visual Acuity Card A measuring tape - for measuring 6 meters distance A torch light - for external eye examination Baseline data formats Referral forms A kit bag to store all these materials and A poster with information on signs and symptoms of eye ailments and good eye health practices which will be permanently displayed in the schools. If the child was able to say or point out all the four directions of E in the visual acuity chart, the visual acuity was recorded as 6/9. If not, it was recorded as less than 6/9.
Results: The study showed that about 38.9% of total sample visually assessed were having error of refraction and about 42.3% of total students with error of refractions wearing glasses while about 16.5% of total students examined were being wearing glasses), the study revealed that the common error of refractions identified among the sample were (myopia (9.8%), hypermetropia (4.9%), astigmatism (43.9%). The study showed that there are number of eye morbidities detected during visual screening like nyestagmous (0.3%), strabismus (0.6%), Cataract (0.3%) and Conjunctivitis 0.3%) and all cases were referred for further intervention.
Conclusions: The study concluded that errors of refractions and other eye morbidities are tremendously prevalent among younger age groups of students and significant portion of these case are UN identified and has direct impact on students academic performance as well as other students interests. National wise visual impairment screening and early eye morbidities detection needs to be considered at policy and decision making, and strongly recommended to be listed as one of the mandatory screening for children national wise. 

The Impact of a 3-Month Continuous Exercise Intervention on the Cognitive Functioning of African Youth

Mavis Asare, Samuel A. Danquah*

Background: Exercise has been identified as vital for the development of young people. The human body is designed for movement and therefore a lack of exercise produces tremendous negative impact. Moderate to vigorous exercise is protective of health. Studies have indicated a link between exercise and the cognitive performance of students. There are consistent findings that continuous exercise improves cognitive skills of attention and concentration. The influence of exercise on executive functioning however is not conclusive. This study examined the impact of a structured exercise on the executive functioning, an aspect of cognitive functioning, in African young people.
Methods: An experimental design was used with 60 adolescents (27 males, 33 females) aged 13 to 18 years (mean=14.83 years) living in Ghana. Participants’ exercise and cognitive functioning were assessed both at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Exercise levels were measured using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Adolescents (PAQ-A) and by pedometer; cognitive functioning was assessed with the Raven’s Progressive Matrices test, with additional psychological variables of physical self-worth being measured with a subscale of the Physical Self Perception Profile, and body dissatisfaction using the body image silhouette test. The participants in the experimental group participated in aerobic exercise, twice a week for 3 continuous months.
Results: Results from the study showed that participants in the experimental school scored significantly higher on cognitive functioning compared to the control group [44.48(8.88) vs. 34.17(9.82)] [F (1,56)=24.99, p<0.001].
Conclusion: The study found that higher levels of moderate to vigorous exercise improve the reasoning capacity of students. The findings also indicated that African students do not participate in regular exercises. Increasing the participation of exercises in school can facilitate the development of executive functioning among young people who are still developing their cognitive functioning. Nutritional practice was controlled in the study by ensuring that only participants with higher scores on the Food Frequency Inventory were included. Therefore nutritional practice did not meditate the relationship between the exercise intervention and cognitive functioning.

Toxic Thoughts and Childhood

Maria Grazia Spurio*

Toxic thoughts and toxic relationships are not only a matter of adult world, as dinamics played by adults while facing a difficult situation are very similar to those played by children. In particular, during the first six years of life, children lay the foundations of what will determine the decisive part of their ability to manage stressor. The unfavorable environment could be the cause of toxic thoughts that, in turn, could be the cause of important disease. That’s why is so important to understand how to give children the right tools to face unfavorable environment. Mind is energy. When one person think, a power transmission, which results in biochemical signals propagated in harmony with our body, is activated. Since pharmaceutical companies can not sell the thoughts, they do not invest a penny to show the close relationship between “mind-body” in terms of “signal-response”. The signal dictated by the mind may constantly be the welfare as the answer. Thoughts create a field of energy that is converted into a biochemical signal that sometimes could cure, or maintain and promote health and wellness

Newborn Massage Therapy

Tiffany Field*

This review on newborn massage therapy research is based on literature searches of Pubmed, Medline and PsychInfo for studies published during the last six years to update a similar review published in 2010. In that review, massage therapy was noted to lead to greater weight gain and growth in preterm newborns who had received moderate pressure massage. The weight gain was thought to relate to increased vagal activity, gastric motility, insulin and IGF –1 levels resulting from the stimulation of pressure receptors during massage. The current review includes randomized controlled trial studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the effects of massage therapy on both preterm and full – term newborns. Immediate effects have been noted for massage therapy during painful procedures such as the heelstick for preterm newborns and vaccinations for full-term newborns. Although most of the studies have focused on the effects of different oils used in massage therapy to enhance weight gain in preterm newborns, other conditions that have benefited from massage therapy include hyperbilirubinemia, feeding intolerance and brain injury. Mothers of preterm newborns have also experienced less depression, stress and anxiety after massaging their infants. Although very few studies have been conducted with full-term newborns, this review includes research on the effects of massage therapy on sleep patterns in full term newborns and their mothers, on hyperbilirubinemia, pain, colic, cortisol and HIV. Despite the methodological limitations noted for some of these studies including small sample sizes and the need for more randomized controlled trials on a standard moderate pressure massage protocol, the data converge to suggest that newborns benefit both physically and developmentally from being massaged by their mothers during the newborn period and their mothers also benefit when they are providing their newborns massage.