Abstract
Purpose :
Dutch children are vision screened seven times at Child Health Care Centers (CHCC) that screen 97% of all children for general health disorders. We assessed visual acuity (VA) measurements at 36 months in an ongoing study comparing two sequential birth cohorts, with and without screening between 6 and 24 months of age (Sloot, ARVO 2016).
Methods :
VA measurements were performed at 36 months with the Amsterdam Picture Chart (APK) or Tumbling-E (TE). Children born between January and June 2012 in the region with CHCCs of Icare in the provinces Drenthe, Gelderland and Flevoland, serving 8% of the Dutch population, were eligible. VA was measured by youth health care physicians or nurses, who receive one day eye examination training every five years. Conditions during measurement of VA varied slightly per office, in lighting or distance from chart. Sufficient VA with the APK was defined as 5/6 or higher, with the TE 0.5 or higher. The parents got the pictures before the appointment took place, to practice them with their child. Data was collected from electronic screening records.
Results :
Of 5162 eligible children, 1017 did not show up. In 146 children no VA measurement was done, 88 of these were already treated by an orthoptist. In 3999 children VA was measured at 36 months in 3776 by APK and 223 by TE. With the APK 655 (17%) measurements were unsuccessful, 2447 (65%) sufficient and 587 (16%) insufficient. Of 87 (2%) children values were missing. With the TE 50 (22%) measurements were unsuccessful, 145 (65%) sufficient and 28 (13%) insufficient.
Conclusions :
At the age of 36 months 17% of VA measurements with a picture chart and 22% of VA with Tumbling-E’s were unsuccessful, depreciating their worth as screening test in the general population.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.