Browsing by Author "Nirghin, Urvashni."

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Design, reliability and validity of a paediatric rate of reading (PRR) chart.
(2012) Nirghin, Urvashni.; Oduntan, Olalekan Alabi.
Background: Reading rate is a measure of fluency, reflecting the level of reading performance especially in children, which is not typically measured during routine eye examinations. Optometric clinical tests such as Snellen visual acuity are often poor predictors of everyday reading performance, as they test the smallest print a person is able to read rather than fluency. Conventional reading rate tests for educational purposes presents with many limitations; they concentrate on linguistic skills, increase in complexity as the reading progresses, limited by the readers vocabulary but more importantly, they do not take the level of the child's vision into consideration. There is currently no reading rate chart that is designed with optometric notations specifically for children with normal vision and low vision. It is therefore necessary to design a reading rate chart that takes the above limitations into consideration. Aim: This study aimed to design a chart that can be used to measure reading rates in normal sighted and low vision primary school children. Methods: The aim of the study was achieved in four parts; the design, reliability, validity of a reading rate chart and finally the testing of the chart on low vision participants. In the design of the chart, ten frequently used words in grade one English reading books were randomly selected from five primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. The reliability and validity of the chart were established on normal sighted children, aged nine to twelve years from two primary schools in the Durban area chosen by convenience sampling method, with sample size of 100 for reliability and 100 for validity. Reliability was established with test and retest reading rates using the new chart while validity was established by determining the reading rates using new the chart and the Wilkins reading rate chart. Data were analyzed using the Paired t-test, Pearson correlation, and Bland and Altman method. Finally, the testing of the new chart without and with low vision device, on fourteen low vision children, aged eight to nineteen years, attending a school for the visually impaired in KwaZulu-Natal. Data was analyzed using Paired t-test and Pearson correlation. Results: The words were arranged in random order, ten words per row and ten rows per paragraph. The chart consisted of six paragraphs (versions A, B, C, D, E and F) with six acuity levels and four optometric notations. Each version was printed on a separate sheet, in Arial and Times New Romans fonts and printed in black ink on approximately white cardboards. In reliability, the mean test and retest reading rates were 77.65 ± 25.30 and 78.23 ± 24.70 (p = 0.29, R² = 0.95). In Bland and Altman method, the mean difference was −0.58 with confidence limits at +10.07 and -11.23. In validity, reading rate for Wilkins chart and the new chart were 75.82 ± 23.64 and 74.92 ± 23.58 (p = 0.01, R² = 0.99) respectively. In Bland-Altman method, the mean difference was +0.90, upper limit at +6.33 and lower limit at –4.53. The mean reading rate, of the low vision children, without and with the low vision device were 59.32 ± 24.08 words per minute (wpm) and 67.04 ± 25.63 words per minute (wpm) respectively (p = 0.09 and r = 0.82). Conclusions: This chart can be used for reading rate assessment for both normally sighted and low vision children and is statistically reliable and valid.
Lifestyle and gender influence on the relationship between hypertension and intraocular pressure amongst the South Nigerian population.
(2017) Igumbor, Brenda Avwerosuo.; Nirghin, Urvashni.
Hypertension and increased intraocular pressure (IOP) have been considered to be detrimental to systemic and ocular health respectively. Untreated and prolonged increase in blood pressure (BP) has been linked to increase in IOP for some populations. Lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, obesity, salt, fat, fruit and vegetable intake could have great influence on the relationship between hypertension and IOP. However, this has not been investigated. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of gender and lifestyle factors on the relationship between hypertension and IOP amongst the South Nigerian population. Method: A total of 570 subjects between 20-70 years old were included in the study. Subjects were randomly selected from six approved eye hospitals within the South Nigerian region. The population was divided into two groups comprising of 285 normotensive and 285 hypertensive subjects. All subjects were presented with the information document. Only those with signed consent forms participated in the study. With each subjects, blood pressure, intraocular pressure, weight and height measurements were taken using the mercury sphygmomanometer, schiotz tonometer, measuring scale and measuring tape respectively. Thereafter, a lifestyle questionnaire about cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, obesity, salt, fat and fruit and vegetable intake were administered. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (Version 22), using Pearson correlation coefficient and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Results: The percentage of male and female normotensive subjects were 33% (N=94) and 67% (N=191) respectively and served as control for the study. For the hypertensive subjects, 36.1% (N=103) were male and 63.9% (N=182) were female. The mean age was 42.31 ± 9.98 years old and 46.45 ± 10.23 years old for the normotensive and hypertensive subjects respectively. The mean IOP of the hypertensive male subjects was 21.22± 3.22 mmHg (RE) and 20.12 ± 2.62 mmHg (LE) and for the female subjects was 19.83 ± 3.75 mmHg (RE) and 18.98 ± 2.91 mmHg (LE). There was no correlation of lifestyle factors and gender on the relationship between HBP and IOP from the study. A correlation was however observed among the hypertensive subjects showing moderate correlation for SBP and DBP for IOP RE (0.375 and 0.297), respectively. A weak correlation was observed for SBP and DBP for IOP LE (0.241 and 0.204) respectively. The relationship between hypertension and IOP was statistically significant with p≤ 0.05. Conclusion: There was significant influence of gender on both hypertension and IOP for the RE and LE. Alcohol intake amongst all other lifestyle had influence on SBP, DBP and IOP RE and LE for hypertensive subjects.
A survey of traditional eye practices: a case study of the central region of Ghana.
(2020) Enimah, Eugene Buah.; Nirghin, Urvashni.
Background: Once one becomes dependent on the eyes, loss of vision can negatively impact person-social and psychological well-being with added financial constraints. Studies have shown that apart from attending the healthcare facilities to receive professional eye care, people also resort to other means to receive eye care, which sometimes have a harmful effect on the eye. Aim: This study sought to measure the prevalence, determinants, complications of traditional eye practices (use of TEM only, ophthalmic self-medication, and a combination of TEM and ophthalmic self-medication), and reasons for the non-use of professional eye care services among the Ghanaian populace. Methods: The study used a mixed-method convergent parallel study design to enroll 191 residents who were 18years old and above. The sampling method was based on the Expanded Program on Immunization survey technique. The data collection for this study included the administration of both closed and open-ended questionnaires, an interview, and an ophthalmic examination. The ophthalmic examination included the assessment of the visual integrity of the participants. Results: In total, 91.83% (n=191) participants were included in the study. The prevalence of the use of TEM was 9%, ophthalmic self-medication (7%), and a combination of TEM and ophthalmic self-medication (3%). Females were two times more likely to use TEM than male participants [χ2 (1) = 5.183, p = 0.023, (95% CI; 1.099 – 3.534)]. Other socio-demographic characteristics were not associated with traditional eye practices. The predominant TEM used was herbal medicine “Nyankwa O ye,” traditional concoction, and Kajal. The reasons for the use of TEM were; others benefitted from it (37.30%), belief in its potency (21.10%), and unsatisfactory orthodox treatment (15.50%). The major ocular complication recorded were glaucoma suspect (29.41%), refractive error (27.73%), other diagnoses (18.49%), and corneal scar (10.08%). Reasons for the non-use of professional eye care services were traditional eye practices were affordable, the eye clinics did not work on weekends, the potency of traditional eye practices, and others benefited from traditional eye practices. Conclusion: The factor that influences the use of TEMs at Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District was gender. The use of traditional eye practices should be discouraged due to its devastating consequences on the eyes.