January 28, 2003
Amblyopia treatment outcomes after screening before or at age 3 years
Journal of AAPOS,December,2002
A recent review of the literature suggested that there is little evidence that early treatment for amblyopia is more effective than later treatment and that preschool vision screening programs should be discontinued. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of early treatment for amblyopia in children. The participants were randomized into a control group or a study group. The children in the control group were offered a strabismus and vision screening examination by an orthoptist at age 37 months. The study group were offered a strabismus and vision screening examination by an orthoptist at age 8, 12, 18, 25, 31, and 37 months. . The final assessment was made when the children were 7.5 years of age . The prevalence of amblyopia of 2 lines or greater difference was 1.45% for the study group and 2.66% for the control group (P = .06). The prevalence of amblyopia of 3 lines or greater difference was 0.65% for the study group and 1.81% for the control group (P = .02). Mean visual acuities in the worse-seeing eye were better for children who had been treated for amblyopia in the study group than for similar children in the control group (0.15 vs 0.26 LogMAR units; P < .001).
<i>The authors suggest that their data support the hypothesis that early treatment for amblyopia leads to a better outcome than later treatment.
Posted by A.Farahi
Posted by afarahi at January 28, 2003 01:17 AM