SCIENTIFIC REPORT
In the absence of strabismus what constitutes a visual deficit in children?
Orthoptic Department, North West Wales NHS Trust, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor LL54 2PW, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Sarah Shea
Orthoptic Department, North West Wales NHS Trust, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor LL54 2PW, UK; sarah.shea{at}nww-tr.wales.nhs.uk
Aim: To examine the range of monocular crowded logMAR acuity and cycloplegic refraction of children aged 3 years and 4 years without strabismus.
Methods: Data were collected prospectively. All children had full orthoptic and ophthalmic examination. Inclusion principally required the absence of strabismus, symptoms, and ocular pathology. Criteria were used to categorise the refraction findings as normal, borderline, or abnormal.
Results: 118 children aged 3 years (mean 3 years 6 months (SD 2 months) and 67 children aged 4 years (mean 4 years 4 months (SD 3 months) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. For the children with normal refraction, the mean monocular logMAR acuity was 0.200 (SD 0.09) for 3 year olds (n = 84) and 0.140 (SD 0.08) for 4 year olds (n = 45); the mean interocular acuity difference (IAD) was 0.03 (SD 0.06) for 3 year olds and 0.03 (SD 0.04) for 4 year olds. The 95% confidence limits were calculated for monocular acuity and IAD and compared to the acuity scores of the children with borderline (n = 17) and abnormal refractive error (n = 38). 15 borderline and 16 abnormal cases had a visual acuity within these limits.
Conclusion: A wide range of refraction may be associated with a good level of visual acuity in children aged 3 years and 4 years.
Abbreviations: IAD, interocular acuity difference
Keywords: visual acuity; refractive error; strabismus; logMAR vision
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
