Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate educational development in low-income preschoolers who failed vision screening and were prescribed glasses compared to those who passed vision screening.
Methods :
This prospective cohort evaluated the difference in a variety of developmental domains through the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) between low-income preschoolers who failed vision screening and were prescribed spectacle (study group) compared to those who passed (control group) in San Francisco, Alameda and San Mateo County during the 2017 to 2018 academic year. The difference in the domains between the two groups were calculated with a t-test at Fall 2017 (baseline), Winter 2018 and Spring 2018. The difference in the mean change in domain scores between the two groups were calculated from Fall 2017 (baseline) to the end of the academic year (Spring 2018).
Results :
Twelve thousand and seven preschoolers were included (n=107 in the study group and n=1100 in the control group). The mean age was 50.2 months (range 34.8 to 66.5 months). One-hundred and ninety children failed vision screening with a true-positive rate of 56.3% (107/190). The mean baseline scores in all eight domains was lower in the study group compared to the control group by a range of 0.9 to 24.9 points; this difference was statistically significantly lower in the “History – Social Sciences (HSS)” (24.9 points; p=0.038) and “Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)” (24.17 points; p=0.039) domains. The mean scores were not significantly different at the Winter 2018 and Spring 2018 timepoints between the two groups. The difference in the mean change in domain scores from Fall 2017 to Spring 2018 between the two groups was higher in the study group in five of the eight domains (range -4.66 to 10.1 points), however this was not statistically significant.
Conclusions :
Low-income preschoolers who were prescribed glasses performed worse in all eight categories of development assessments at the start of the academic year, with a significant difference in HSS and VPA. There were no significant differences in scores between the two groups at the mid- and end of the academic year and the study group experienced a larger increase in scores for the majority of domains over the course of the academic year. This suggests that glasses may assist low-income preschoolers in catching up in their educational development assessments.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.