TY - JOUR T1 - Risk of bilateral visual impairment in individuals with amblyopia: the Rotterdam study JF - British Journal of Ophthalmology JO - Br J Ophthalmol SP - 1450 LP - 1451 DO - 10.1136/bjo.2006.113670 VL - 91 IS - 11 AU - Redmer van Leeuwen AU - Marinus J C Eijkemans AU - Johannes R Vingerling AU - Albert Hofman AU - Paulus T V M de Jong AU - Huib J Simonsz Y1 - 2007/11/01 UR - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/91/11/1450.abstract N2 - Background: The excess risk of bilateral visual impairment (BVI; bilateral visual acuity <0.5) among individuals with amblyopia is an argument for screening for amblyopia, but data are scarce.Methods: The risk was estimated by determining the incidence of BVI in the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort of subjects aged 55 years or over (n  =  5220), including 192 individuals with amblyopia (3.7%). Using a multistate lifetable, the lifetime risk and excess period spent with BVI were determined.Results: The relative risk of BVI for amblyopes was 2.6 (95% confidence interval 1.4–4.5). For individuals with amblyopia, the lifetime risk of BVI was 18%, whereas they lived on average 7.2 years with BVI. For non-amblyopic individuals, these figures were 10% and 6.7 years, respectively.Conclusion: Amblyopia nearly doubles the lifetime risk of BVI and affected individuals spent an extra six months with BVI. This study provides data for future cost-effectiveness analyses. ER -