This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Genetic links to pediatric cataract sought in study
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
MELBOURNE, Australia — About half of pediatric cataracts were identified within the first year of life in a study here, and almost one-fifth of those had a positive family history of cataracts.
In southeastern Australia, pediatric cataract has an incidence rate of 2.2 per 10,000 births, said researchers here with the Royal Children's Hospital and Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. They identified 421 pediatric cataract cases in their 25-year retrospective review of records. Of the 342 patients with a negative family history, 50% were diagnosed within the first year of life. An additional 16% of cases were associated with a recognized systemic disease or syndrome. Unilateral cataract was identified in 52% of sporadic cases.
Seventy-nine children from 54 nuclear families had a positive family history. The mode of inheritance was autosomal dominance in 30 families, X-linked in four, autosomal recessive in two and uncertain in three.
The study is published in British Journal of Ophthalmology.