title: Prevalence and sex differences of psychiatric disorders in young adults who had intermittent exotropia as children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence and sex differences of mental disorders diagnosed among young adults who had intermittent exotropia (IXT) as children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of all children (<19 years) diagnosed as having IXT as residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 1994, and their randomly selected nonstrabismic birth- and sex-matched controls (1:1) were retrospectively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A mental health disorder was diagnosed in 97 (53.0%) of the 183 patients with childhood IXT followed to a mean age of 22 years compared with 55 (30.1%) controls (P < .001). Patients with IXT were 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.7-4.1) times more likely to develop a psychiatric illness than controls. A mental health disorder was diagnosed in 63% (41 of 65) and 47% (56 of 118) of males and females with IXT, respectively, compared with 33% (22 of 66) and 28% (33 of 117) of male and female controls, respectively. Additionally, males with IXT had a greater use of psychotropic medication (P = .003), psychiatric emergency department visits (P < .001), psychiatric hospital admissions (P = .04), suicide attempts (P = .004), and suicidal ideation (P = .002) than controls, and females with IXT had more suicidal ideation (P = .02) than controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children diagnosed as having IXT, especially males, are more likely to develop mental illness by the third decade of life compared with children without strabismus.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Jeff A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Capo
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Nusz
authors.forename: Nancy N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Diehl
authors.forename: Brian G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Mohney
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D005099:Exotropia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult