April 2010
Volume 51, Issue 13
Free
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   April 2010
Prevalence and Associations of Low Vision in Preschool Children: The Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study
A. S. Pai; C. Samarawickrama; J. J. Wang; T. Y. Wong; R. Varma; K. A. Rose; G. Burlutsky; P. Mitchell; Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • A. S. Pai
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • C. Samarawickrama
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • J. J. Wang
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
    Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • T. Y. Wong
    Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
    Singapore Eye Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
  • R. Varma
    Ophthalmology, USC, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
  • K. A. Rose
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • G. Burlutsky
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • P. Mitchell
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study
    Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships  A.S. Pai, None; C. Samarawickrama, None; J.J. Wang, None; T.Y. Wong, None; R. Varma, None; K.A. Rose, None; G. Burlutsky, None; P. Mitchell, None.
  • Footnotes
    Support  NHMRC Grant ID: 402425
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science April 2010, Vol.51, 5210. doi:
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      User Alerts
      You are adding an alert for:
      Prevalence and Associations of Low Vision in Preschool Children: The Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study
      You will receive an email whenever this article is corrected, updated, or cited in the literature. You can manage this and all other alerts in My Account
      The alert will be sent to:
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation
      Citation

      A. S. Pai, C. Samarawickrama, J. J. Wang, T. Y. Wong, R. Varma, K. A. Rose, G. Burlutsky, P. Mitchell, Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study; Prevalence and Associations of Low Vision in Preschool Children: The Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2010;51(13):5210.

      Download citation file:

      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
    • Get Permissions
  • Supplements
Abstract

Purpose: : To investigate the prevalence and associations of low vision in a sample of preschool children.

Methods: : 2473 children, aged 6-72 months, were examined in the Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study (SPEDS) during 2007-9. Monocular visual acuity (VA) was attempted on all children, aged 30 months+, using the Electronic Visual Acuity system, and in a subset using the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution chart. Low vision was defined as presenting VA worse than 20/50 in children aged less than 48 months and worse than 20/40 in those aged 48 to 72 months. Refraction was measured using Retinomax K-Plus 2, Canon RK-F1 autorefractor, or streak retinoscopy after adequate cycloplegia. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction (SER, sphere + ½ cylinder) ≤ -0.50 dioptres (D), hyperopia as SER ≥+2.00D, astigmatism as cylinder ≥ 1.00D, and anisometropia as SER difference ≥1.00D between eyes. Sociodemographic data was obtained from questionnaires.

Results: : Low vision in the worse eye was found in 8.35%, with an overall mean VA of 20/32 and mean SER 1.30D in our sample. A trend of improving mean VA from 20/32 to 20/25 with increasing age was observed (ptrend < 0.0001). However, low VA prevalence was similar across all 5 age groups (p=0.92). There was also no significant difference in prevalent low vision between girls and boys, across ethnicity subgroups, or socioeconomic levels (all p>0.05). After adjusting for age, gender and ethnicity, low vision in preschool children was found to be significantly associated with myopia (odds ratio with 95% confidence interval [OR] 4.71, 2.38-9.33), hyperopia (OR 2.58, 1.62-4.11), astigmatism (OR 7.71, 5.01-11.87), anisometropia (OR 4.20, 1.80-9.80), esotropia (OR 8.72, 2.28-33.37), suspected amblyopia (OR 63.52, 23.46-171.98), low birthweight <2500g (OR 2.80, 1.22-6.43) and prematurity ≤36 weeks (OR 2.25, 1.15-4.42).

Conclusions: : This study suggests that 8% of Australian preschool children have low presenting vision. Significant ametropia, low birthweight, and prematurity were strongly associated with low vision, suggesting the importance to identify and monitor vision in such children and to correct refractive errors from an early age to ensure normal vision development.

Keywords: low vision • refraction • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence 
© 2010, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc., all rights reserved. Permission to republish any abstract or part of an abstract in any form must be obtained in writing from the ARVO Office prior to publication.
Copyright © 2024 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our privacy policy.Accept