Abstract
Purpose:
Strabismus is when the two eyes do not align in the same direction. It is a common eye condition in children and affects about 2% of the population. In New York, the borough of the Bronx has 1,385,108 residents and is the least affluent area of New York City. Approximately 700,000 of these residents obtain medical care through the Montefiore Medical Health System. We report on the prevalence of strabismus in the Bronx cared for by the Montefiore Medical Health System.
Methods:
A retrospective study was performed by review of medical records of patients seen between Jan 2000 - Aug 2013. All patients reviewed were seen by an ophthalmologist and received an ICD-9: 378 code. Population data was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Results:
Prevalence of strabismus in the population sampled was 1.09%. These prevalence values are lower than the prevalence of 2% reported. It is possible that the lower prevalence is related to the ethnic differences between our population and ones that have previously been studied.
Conclusions:
Limitations of the study may be due to inappropriate ICD-9 coding. There is a possiblity of an overestimation of esotropia and exotropia due to incorrect coding for 6th nerve palsy, partial 3rd nerve palsy, or Duane’s syndrome for example. Further research to investigate the rate of strabismic surgery in these patients would be of interest. In addition an analysis to see if a sufficient number of pediatric ophthalmologist are available in the area to meet surgical needs can be evaluated.
Keywords: 463 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence •
722 strabismus