Vision Photoscreening of Infants and Young Children in a Primary Care Pediatric Office: Can It Identify Asymptomatic Treatable Amblyopic Risk Factors?

Objective. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and accuracy of vision photoscreening a large cohort of asymptomatic children age 6 months to 6 years. Methods. Photoscreening was performed at the 6 and 18 months and annually at the 2- to 5-year scheduled pediatric health assessment visits. Results. A total of 1976 children underwent photoscreening for amblyopic risk factors during an 18-month period; 167 of them (8.5%) screened positive. Of the 94 study children who were evaluated by a pediatric ophthalmologist, 25 required intervention at their initial visit (26.6%). Ten children were diagnosed with amblyopia, representing 0.5% of all children screened. Conclusion. Vision photoscreening of 1976 young children identified 10 with previously undiagnosed amblyopia and an additional 15 with treatable pre-amblyopic risk factors. It is unlikely that any of these children with serious refractive errors would have been detected without the use of in-office vision photoscreening.