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Suppression test identifies children at risk for amblyopia

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A quickly administered diagnostic test can differentiate children at risk for amblyopia from normally sighted children, according to a study.

Jan Willem R. Pott, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University Hospital in Groningen, Netherlands, examined 604 children (mean age 8 years) using the Polaroid suppression test. Mean testing time took 43 seconds; 34 children could not be examined. Of those that could, 443 had abnormal results and 127 showed no suppression. The suppression in constant strabismus was detected in all cases. The sensitivity for accommodative forms of strabismus was lower, but amblyopia was never missed. Of the 119 children with clinical defined amblyopia, only one did not have suppression.

The authors say the Polaroid suppression test has “great potential as a visual screening tool in young children.”

The study is published in the Journal of AAPOS.