Refractive errors in young children enrolled in the South Bay Union School District of San Diego County, California

The South Bay Union School District (SBUSD) is a K-6^th grade elementary school district in San Diego with close proximity to the United States - Mexico Border.  Since the border is less than 2 miles away 80.89% of the students are Hispanic and 47.01% are English learners. With 67.70% of the students considered to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, the need for vision care is evident.

To fulfill state mandate, the UCSD EyeMobile team was approached by nurses from SBUSD to perform vision screenings for all elementary students enrolled in the district. In classrooms, children were screened using the handheld autorefractor. 

A total of 7,698 children were screened at 11 school sites located within a 4 mile radius. Results were shared with nurses to ensure all children referred by the autofrecactor would receive further evaluation by an eye care professional. Information collected and shared included mean refractive error (hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism) and the number of children already receiving optometric services.