The visual status of children ages 3 to 6 years in the vision screening program in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the current status of myopia, amblyopia, and strabismus of preschoolers in Taiwan.


METHODS
The records of a vision screening performed in 2005 at 4 preschools by a tertiary referral medical center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan were reviewed. Cycloplegic refraction, visual acuity by E chart, stereopsis by Titmus and National Taiwan University tests, and ocular alignment were analyzed.


RESULTS
Most (97.7%) of the children (n = 618) were able to perform visual acuity testing. There was good correlation between the results of cycloplegic spherical equivalent obtained by autorefraction and by retinoscopy (r = 0.934, p < 0.001). The prevalence of amblyopia was about 5%. A trend was found between amblyopia morbidity and the 4 age groups when a single criterion (best-corrected visual acuity <0.7) was used for all ages (decreased amblyopia incidence with increased age; p = 0.028, chi(2) test for trend). The prevalence of myopia was 3.0%, 4.2%, 4.7%, and 12.2% at ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 years, respectively. There was a trend of increased myopia with increased age (p = 0.021, chi(2) test for trend).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of myopia in children ages 3 to 6 years in Taiwan was high compared with the prevalence in other countries. Criteria for amblyopia based on age difference and on the types of visual acuity test are recommended.
Department of Ophthalmology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Yu-Hung
YH
Lai
Hsin-Tien
HT
Hsu
Hwei-Zu
HZ
Wang
Shun-Jen
SJ
Chang
Wen-Chuan
WC
Wu
D000550:Amblyopia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004948:Esotropia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005099:Exotropia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006956:Hyperopia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015351:Vision Screening; D014792:Visual Acuity