Hubungan Kebiasaan Membaca dengan Kelainan Refraksi Pada Santriwati Reguler Pondok Pesantren Putri Nahdlatuth Thalabah (YASINAT) Wuluhan Jember

Abstract

The prevalence of refractive errors in Indonesia is still very high. The prevalence of refractive errors based on the Riskesdas (Basic Health Research) in Indonesia is 4.6% with provincial prevalence in East Java being 4.8% of the population. Various factors might correlate with refractive disorders, including the amount of time spent on activities related to education and near-work activities. In the Islamic boarding school environment, especially in a boarding school oriented towards memorizing the Qur'an, students must submit their Qur'an recitation daily. This might cause students to read the Qur'an throughout the day without paying attention to the duration of eye work, distance for near-work activities, reading position, and light intensity. This study aims to determine the effect of reading habits on refractive errors in female students of Pondok Pesantren Tahfidz Putri Nahdlatuth Thalabah (Yasinat) in Wuluhan Jember. This research conducted in February 2024 is an analytic observational one with a case-control design. There were 44 research subjects consisting of female students aged 18 to 23. Data were obtained through visual acuity measurement with a Snellen chart and a pinhole occluder and assessing reading habits from interviews. Chi-Square test results showed correlations between duration of eye work (p-value 0.030), reading distance (p-value 0.035), and light intensity (p-value 0.036) with refractive errors in female students. Multivariate analysis shows students who habitually read without a break for more than 30 minutes and had a reading distance within 30 cm have a 4-times greater risk of developing refractive errors than students who don’t. Further analysis is needed to determine other factors that might cause refractive errors among female students from Islamic boarding schools other than reading habits (eye distance, reading duration, light intensity, reading position) to determine more comprehensive strategies for the prevention and control of refractive errors in female students.