Prevalence of Accommodative and Non-Strabismic Binocular Anomalies in a Puerto Rican Pediatric Population.

Background: There exists a considerable void in the literature of studies that examine the prevalence of non-strabismic binocular and accommodative disorders in the pediatric population of Puerto Rico. The purpose of this retrospective study was to fill this void by performing a comprehensive record...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Optometry & Visual Performance Vol. 3; no. 3; pp. 158 - 165
Autores principales: Paniccia, Stefania M., Romero Ayala, Angel
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Optometric Extension Program Jun2015
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Background: There exists a considerable void in the literature of studies that examine the prevalence of non-strabismic binocular and accommodative disorders in the pediatric population of Puerto Rico. The purpose of this retrospective study was to fill this void by performing a comprehensive record review of the pediatric clinical population of the InterAmerican University College of Optometry satellite clinics. Methods: This study was performed using a random selection of 593 existing health records of patients between the ages of 5 and 20 years. Patients had participated in a complete optometric assessment between the years 2004 and 2012. The criteria for selection were the absence of strabismus, amblyopia, nystagmus, vertical deviation, corneal pathology, retinal pathology, lens pathology, or any other parameter outside of population requirements. Results: Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS program. Results of this study indicate that the most common non-strabismic and accommodative anomalies in the studied population are accommodative insufficiency (39.0%), convergence insufficiency (12.6%), convergence excess (9.1%), and accommodative infacility (7.6%). Conclusions: Accommodative and non-strabismic binocular vision problems are prevalent in the pediatric population of the InterAmerican satellite clinics. This is the first epidemiologic study about the prevalence of these conditions in Puerto Rico. Due to the possibility of these non-strabismic and accommodative anomalies resulting in a reduced quality of life for children and affecting school performance, sports performance, and play activities, an appropriate vision evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment is important. Lastly, further comprehensive studies should be conducted in Puerto Rico using this study as a base for data collection and analysis.