Research
Visual Screening of Swedish Children: An Ophthalmological Evaluation
The purpose of this study was to describe the various ophthalmological conditions detected in the Swedish visual screening program for children.
This was longitudinal and retrospective study of all children (3126) born in 1982 in 3 Swedish municipalities have been followed from birth to ten years of age.
The prevalence of ametropia in the population was 7.7%, the prevalence of strabismus 3.1%, and the prevalence of organic lesions 0.6%.
Seven children (0.2%) were visually handicapped (visual acuity ≤0.3 in the better eye).
Refractive errors and microtropias were detected at the age of 4 years, when the first visual acuity test was performed.
Manifest strabismus was in many cases detected before the age of 4 years among studied children.
Following the screening and subsequent diagnosis and treatment, the prevalence of deep amblyopia (visual acuity ≤0.3) has been reduced from 2% to 0.2%.
Following treatment, 47% of the amblyopic children achieved a visual acuity better than 0.7.
Visual screening plays a significant role in detecting visual and ocular disorders.
With early screening, the prevalence of amblyopia is greatly reduced in Swedish children.