title: Vision and eye health in children 36 to <72 months: proposed data definitions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To recommend a standardized approach for measuring progress toward national goals to improve preschool children's eye health.
  
  
  METHODS
  A multidisciplinary panel of experts reviewed existing measures and national vision-related goals during a series of face-to-face meetings and conference calls. The panel used a consensus process, informed by existing data related to delivery of eye and non-eye services to preschool children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Currently, providers of vision screening and eye examinations lack a system to provide national- or state-level estimates of the proportion of children who receive either a vision screening or an eye examination. The panel developed numerator and denominator definitions to measure rates of children "who completed a vision screening in a medical or community setting using a recommended method, or received an eye examination by an optometrist or ophthalmologist at least once between the ages of 36 to <72 months." A separate measure for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and measures for eye examination and follow-up were also developed. The panel recommended that these measures be implemented at national, state, and local levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Standardized performance measures that include all eye services received by a child are needed at state and national levels to measure progress toward improving preschool children's eye health.
authors.affiliation: *OD, MS †MD, MPH ‡MD, MBA University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Optometry, Birmingham, Alabama (WM-T); University of California, Los Angeles - Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, Los Angeles, California (SAR); and Zanvyl Krieger Children's Eye Center and Adult Strabismus Service, Wilmer Eye Institute and the Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland (MXR).
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Marsh-Tootle
authors.forename: Shirley A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.forename: Michael X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Repka
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000592:standards; D009907:Optometry / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000592:standards*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*