Early Screening for Amblyopia May Yield Better Treatment Outcomes

Early screening for amblyopia may yield better treatment outcomes, researchers say. In continuing coverage from previous editions of First Look, MedPage Today (4/14, Smith) reported that "[s]creening infants and toddlers for amblyopia" may yield "better treatment outcomes than waiting until they are in the preschool years," according to a study published in the Apr. issue of the journal Archives of Ophthalmology. Robert Arnold, M.D., of Alaska's Ophthalmic Associates, and colleagues, "undertook a retrospective analysis of data from the Alaska Blind Child Discovery program, a charitable research effort to offer vision screening to children in both urban and rural areas of Alaska." The researchers analyzed data from "a 10-year period from Feb. 1, 1996, through Feb. 28, 2006," during which "lay screeners evaluated 21,367 children, about half of them younger than 48 months," and 6.9 percent of whom "were referred for a complete eye examination and treatment." The investigators found that youngsters "screened before the age of two" through a technique called photoscreening, "and found to have amblyopia,...had significantly better visual acuity at age six (P=0.04) than children screened later."