Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: According to Maternal and Childhood Health Law in Japan, all children at the age of 1.5 and 3 years have to undergo physical and developmental examinations including dental, eye, and hearing examinations. At the first step, questionnaires asking specific problems such as squint and printed Landolt rings in different sizes for learning of visual acuity testing at home (the latter only for 3–year–old children) are sent to families, and then families bring children to the regional Health Centers. At the second step, nurses at the Health Centers measure uncorrected visual acuity and inspect eye alignment. At the third step, children with suspected diseases are sent to ophthalmologists for the detailed eye examinations. The final diagnoses were sent back to the Health Centers. This study aims to reveal the prevalence of strabismus obtained from data in this system of 1.5 and 3–year–old children examinations. Methods: The final diagnoses made by ophthalmologists and sent back to the Health Centers in Okayama City were summarized to elucidate the prevalence of strabismus in general as well as esotropia and exotropia in 1.5 and 3–year–old children in Okayama City in the year, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Results: On the 1.5–year–old examinations, 5792 of 6923 children (83%) in 2000, 5645 of 6659 (84%) in 2001, and 5687 of 6734 (84%) in 2002 visited the Health Centers. Of these children, 18, 20, and 13 children were recommended to visit ophthalmologists and 18, 18, and 12 children did so, respectively. The final results on the 1.5–year–old examinations were esotropia in 1, 1, and 0 child(ren), exotropia in 4, 4, and 1 child(ren), and intermittent exotropia in 2, 2, and 1 child(ren), respectively. On the 3–year–old examinations, 5186 of 6666 children (77%) in 2000, 5372 of 6739 (79%) in 2001, 5351 of 6646 (80%) in 2002 visited the Health Centers. Of these children, 45, 55, and 36 children were recommended to visit ophthalmologists, and 31, 47, and 30 children did so, respectively. The final results on the 3–year–old examinations were esotropia in 2, 3, and 5 children, exotropia in 4, 7, and 0 child(ren), intermittent exotropia in 6, 13, and 6 children, respectively. Conclusions: The prevalence rates of strabismus at 1.5 and 3 years old in this population were 0.03–0.12% and 0.20–0.40%, respectively, lower compared with the other population. The number of intermittent exotropia increased with the age.
Keywords: strabismus: diagnosis and detection • esotropia and exotropia • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence