To describe the rationale, study design, methodology and baseline characteristics data of the Shiraz Pediatric Eye Study, a population-based survey of children from the elementary schools of the four educational districts of Shiraz, Iran.

This population-based study included school-aged children aged 6-12 years old from the 4 educational districts of Shiraz who were recruited in years 2015–2016. Using stratified random sampling, 2400 subjects were selected from districts. A detailed interview and ocular evaluation were performed for each eligible student. The eye examination comprised uncorrected and best corrected visual acuity, refraction, external eye examination (including specific strabismus and lid evaluation tests), slit lamp biomicroscopy, intraocular pressure, Ishihara color vision test, and stereoacuity. Exophthalmometry, optical biometry, and Optical Coherence Tomography were performed for randomly selected subset of patients. General characteristics and socioeconomic variables were also collected to assess risk factors.

From a total of 2400 selected students, 2001 (83.3%) participated in the study. The mean age of the students was 9.1± 1.6 years, and 59.7% were girls. Most children had parents with low educational status (63.5%), and 2.2% had totally illiterate parents.

This study is expected to provide the prevalence of visual impairments and its related determinants in the Shiraz district. Moreover, it will identify children who should be targeted by blindness prevention programs.