Refractive errors, amblyopia leading causes of visual impairment in Australian preschool children

Ophthalmology.2011;doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2011.01.027

Visual impairment in Australian preschool children was most commonly caused by uncorrected refractive errors and amblyopia, a study said.

The cross-sectional, population-based study included 1,188 children aged 30 months to 72 months from the Sydney Paediatric Eye Disease Study. Visual impairment was defined as visual acuity that was less than 20/40 in patients who were at least 48 months and less than 20/50 in patients who were younger than 48 months.

Visual impairment in at least one eye was found in 6.4% of patients, and 2.7% of patients had bilateral visual impairment, the study said.

Of the worse eyes, 69.7% had refractive errors and 26.3% had amblyopia. Astigmatism (51.3%) and hyperopia (28.9%) were the most common refractive errors, according to the study.

In addition, a regression analysis found visual impairment to be independently associated with low birthweight of less than 2,500 g.