Original articlePrevalence of Amblyopia and Strabismus in White and African American Children Aged 6 through 71 Months: The Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Study
Section snippets
Methods
The Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Survey was designed to estimate and compare the prevalence of decreased VA, strabismus, amblyopia, and refractive error in a population-based sample of African American and non-Hispanic white children 6 through 71 months of age living in Baltimore. A detailed description of the Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Survey protocol has been published.26 The protocol was approved by the Committee on Human Subjects Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Study Cohort
Data were collected between November 2003 and May 2007. A total of 63 737 occupied dwelling units were identified in 54 census tracts, of which 59 045 (93%) responded to household screening for eligible children (i.e., stated whether or not children meeting eligibility criteria lived in the house). We enrolled 3990 (97%) of the 4132 eligible children and examined a total of 2546 children (151 of whom were examined in their homes) with an overall response rate of 64% (62% of all eligible
Discussion
This population-based study of preschool African American and white children found the overall prevalence of strabismus to be 2.1% among African Americans and 3.3% among whites, a difference that was not statistically significant. Esotropia and exotropia were found equally often in both racial groups. Both exotropia and esotropia were about 3 times more frequent in children after 12 months of age compared with the first year of life. The amblyopia prevalence (for those 30–71 months of age) was
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Data Monitoring and Oversight Committee for assistance with the design and conduct of this work as well as for reviewing and providing comments on the manuscript: Jonathan M. Holmes, MD (Chair); Eileen E. Birch, PhD; Karen Cruickshanks, PhD; Natalie Kurinij, PhD; Graham E. Quinn, MD; Maureen G. Maguire, PhD; Joseph M. Miller, MD; Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD.
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Manuscript no. 2008-1163.
Financial Disclosure(s): The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Supported by the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (EY14483).