Abstract
Purpose :
Although the association of Down's Syndrome (DS) with ocular pathologies has been long-established, ophthalmic eye exams have yet to be implemented as part of the required health maintenance routine in DS patients. We are performing a retrospective, observational clinical study on patients with Down's Syndrome to investigate the frequency of ocular findings in this patient population.
Methods :
This study includes a retrospective review of electronic medical record data from the University Hospitals database over a 14-year time period (January 2008 - October 2022). A total of 1,445 patient records of individuals age 1 month - 69 years with a known Down's Syndrome diagnosis are available for analysis. Thus far, 334 patient records were analyzed. Of these patients, only 76 have an ophthalmic eye exam on record. The medical records of these patients were further evaluated for the presence of an ocular diagnosis. Data collection is still underway and will include the mean age and standard deviation of our patient population. Statistical analyses will be conducted using SPSS software, T-Test and Chi-square to measure the average degree of refractive error in DS patients compared to a control population of patients without Down's Syndrome that had an ophthalmic eye exam performed within the respective time frame.
Results :
Out of 334 patient records analyzed, only 76 (22.75%) patients had an ophthalmic eye exam on file. Out of the 76 patient charts analyzed, 48 (63.16%) suffered from astigmatism, 43 (56.58%) suffered from hypermetropia and 15 (19.75%) suffered from myopia. 5 individuals (6.58%) suffered from anisometropia and 6 (7.89%) suffered from congenital nystagmus. Of the individuals that suffered from strabismus, 22 (28.95%) had esotropia and 4 (5.26%) had exotropia. 13 (17.11%) patients had a congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction. 4 (5.26%) suffered from congenital cataracts and 5 (6.58%) suffered from age-related cataracts. Finally, 3 (3.95%) of our patients suffered from keratoconus.
Conclusions :
The overwhelming majority of Down’s Syndrome patients do not undergo regular ophthalmic eye exams despite the high association of this disorder with ocular pathologies. It is possible that many DS patients have undiagnosed ocular pathologies that are left undetected. Our results emphasize the importance of routine eye exams in the health maintenance regimen of patients with Down’s Syndrome.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.