Abstract
Purpose: :
The purpose of this population–based cohort study was to describe the incidence and types of esotropia diagnosed from birth through 18 years in Olmsted County, Minnesota during a 10–year period.
Methods: :
The medical records of all pediatric (< 19 years of age) residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota diagnosed with an esodeviation (> 10 prism diopters) from January 1, 1985 through December 31, 1994 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: :
Three hundred eighty–five cases of childhood esotropia were identified during the 10–year period, yielding an annual age– and gender–adjusted incidence of 111.0 (95% Confidence Interval: 99.9–122.1) per 100,000 patients less than 19 years of age. This rate corresponds to a cumulative prevalence of 2.34% of all children less than 19 years of age with a significant decrease in the incidence during the second decade of life (p<0.0001). Of the 385 study children, the specific forms and percentages of esotropia diagnosed were as follows: fully accommodative, 140 (36.4%); acquired nonaccommodative, 64 (16.6%); esotropia associated with an abnormal central nervous system (CNS), 44 (11.4%); partially accommodative, 38 (9.9%); congenital, 30 (7.8%); sensory, 25 (6.5%); paralytic, 25 (6.5%), undetermined, 15 (3.9%); and other, 4 (1.0%).
Conclusions: :
The incidence of childhood esotropia from this population–based study is comparable to prevalence rates in prior reports. Esotropia is most common during the first decade of life, with the accommodative and acquired nonaccommodative forms occurring most frequently. The congenital (infantile), sensory, and paralytic forms of childhood esotropia were less common in this population.
Keywords: esotropia and exotropia • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence