Background The WHO's Vision 2020 global initiative against blindness, launched in 2000, prioritises children. Progress has been hampered by the global paucity of epidemiological data about childhood visual disability. The British Childhood Visual Impairment and Blindness Study 2 (BCVIS2) was undertaken to address this evidence gap. Methods UK-wide prospective population-based observational study of all those aged under 18 years newly diagnosed with visual impairment or blindness between Oct 1, 2015 and Nov 1 2016. Eligible children were notified simultaneously but independently by their managing ophthalmologists and paediatricians via the two national active surveillance schemes, the British Ophthalmic and Paediatric Surveillance Units. Standardised detailed data were collected at diagnosis and one year later. Incidence estimates and relative rates by key sociodemographic factors were calculated. Descriptive analyses were undertaken of underlying ophthalmic disorders and nonophthalmic comorbidities. FindingsOf 784 cases, 72% had additional non-ophthalmic impairments/disorders and 4% died within the year. Annual incidence was highest in the first year of life, 5•2 per 10,000 (95% CI 4•7-5•7) with cumulative incidence by 18 years of 10•0 per 10,000 (95% CI 9•4 to 10•8). Rates were higher for those from any ethnic minority group, the lowest quintile of socio-economic status, born preterm or with low birthweight. Only 44% had a single ophthalmic condition: disorders of the brain/visual pathways affected 48% overall. Prenatal or perinatal aetiological factors accounted for 84% of all conditions. InterpretationBCVIS2 provides a contemporary snapshot of the heterogeneity, multi-morbidity and vulnerability associated with childhood visual disability in a high income country, and the arising complex needs. These findings will facilitate developing and delivering healthcare and planning interventional research. They highlight the importance of including childhood visual disability as a sentinel event and metric in global child health initiatives.

IMPORTANCE Glaucoma affects more than 75 million people worldwide. Intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering surgery is an important treatment for this disease. Interest in reducing surgical morbidity has led to the introduction of minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS). Understanding the comparative effectiveness and safety of MIGS is necessary for clinicians and patients. OBJECTIVE To summarize data from randomized clinical trials of MIGS for open-angle glaucoma, which were evaluated in a suite of Cochrane reviews. DATA SOURCES The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews including studies published before June 1, 2021. STUDY SELECTION Reviews of randomized clinical trials comparing MIGS with cataract extraction alone, other MIGS, traditional glaucoma surgery, laser trabeculoplasty, or medical therapy.DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Data were extracted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines by one investigator and confirmed by a second. Methodologic rigor was assessed using the AMSTAR 2 appraisal tool and random-effects network meta-analyses were conducted. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe proportion of participants who did not need to use medication to reduce intraocular pressure (IOP) postsurgery (drop-free). Outcomes were analyzed at short-term (<6 months), medium-term (6-18 months), and long-term (>18 months) follow-up.RESULTS Six eligible Cochrane reviews were identified discussing trabecular bypass with iStent or Hydrus microstents, ab interno trabeculotomy with Trabectome, subconjunctival and supraciliary drainage devices, and endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation. Moderate certainty evidence indicated that adding a Hydrus safely improved the likelihood of drop-free glaucoma control at medium-term (relative risk [RR], 1.6; 95% CI, 1.4 to 1.8) and long-term (RR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.4 to 1.9) follow-up and conferred 2.0-mm Hg (95% CI, −2.7 to −1.3 mm Hg) greater IOP reduction at long-term follow-up, compared with cataract surgery alone. Adding an iStent also safely improved drop-free disease control compared with cataract surgery alone (RR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2 to 1.6), but the short-term IOP-lowering effect of the iStent was not sustained. Addition of a CyPass microstent improved drop-free glaucoma control compared with cataract surgery alone (RR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.5) but was associated with an increased risk of vraision loss. Network meta-analyses supported the direction and magnitude of these results. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEBased on data synthesized in Cochrane reviews, some MIGS may afford patients with glaucoma greater drop-free disease control than cataract surgery alone. Among the products currently available, randomized clinical trial data associate the Hydrus with greater drop-free glaucoma control and IOP lowering than the iStent; however, these effect sizes were small.

IMPORTANCE A lack of consensus exists with regard to the optimal positioning regimen for patients after macula-involving retinal detachment (RD) repair.OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of face-down positioning vs support-the-break positioning on retinal displacement and distortion after macula-involving RD repair. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA prospective 6-month single-masked randomized clinical trial was conducted at a multicenter tertiary referral setting from May 16, 2016, to May 1, 2018. Inclusion criteria were fovea-involving rhegmatogenous RD; central visual loss within 14 days; patients undergoing primary vitrectomy and gas surgery, under local anesthetic; patients able to give written informed consent; and 18 years old and older. Analysis was conducted following a modified intention-to-treat principle, with patients experiencing a redetachment or failure to attach the macula being excluded from analysis.INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomized 1:1 to receive face-down positioning or support-the-break positioning for a 24-hour period postoperatively. Positioning compliance was not monitored. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe proportion of patients with retinal displacement on autofluorescence imaging at 6 months postoperatively. Secondary outcomes included proportion of patients with displacement at 2 months; amplitude of displacement at 2 and 6 months; corrected Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity; objective Distortion Scores; and quality of life questionnaire scores at 6 months. RESULTSOf the 262 randomized patients, 239 were analyzed (171 male [71.5%]; mean [SD] age, 60.8 [9.8] years). At 6 months, retinal displacement was detected in 42 of 100 (42%) in the face-down positioning group vs 58 of 103 (56%) in the support-the-break positioning group (odds ratio, 1.77; 95%CI, 1.01-3.11; P = .04). The degree of displacement was lower in the face-down group. Groups were similar in corrected visual acuity (face-down, 74 letters vs support-the-break, 75 letters), objective D Chart Distortion Scores (range: 0, no distortion to 41.6, severe distortion; with face-down at 4.5 vs support-the-break at 4.2), and quality of life scores (face-down 89.3 vs support-the-break 89.0) at 2 and 6 months. Retinal redetachment rate was similar in both groups (face-down group, 12.2% and support-the-break group, 13.7%). Retinal folds were less common in the face-down positioning group vs the support-the-break positioning group (5.3% vs 13.5%, respectively; odds ratio, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.2-7.4; P = .03). Binocular diplopia was more common in the support-the-break group compared with the face-down positioning group (7.6% vs 1.5%, respectively; odds ratio, 5.3; 95% CI, 1.3-24.6; P = .03). Amplitude of displacement was associated with worse visual acuity (r = −0.5; P < .001) and distortion (r = 0.28; P = .008). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this study, findings suggest that face-down positioning was associated with a reduction in the rate and amplitude of postoperative retinal displacement after macula-involving RD r...

A genetic contribution to refractive error has been confirmed by the discovery of more than 150 associated variants in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Environmental factors such as education and time outdoors also demonstrate strong associations. Currently however, the extent of gene-environment or gene-gene interactions in myopia is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that refractive error-associated variants exhibit effect size heterogeneity, a hallmark feature of genetic interactions. Of 146 variants tested, evidence of non-uniform, non-linear effects were observed for 66 (45%) at Bonferroni-corrected significance ( P < 1.1 × 10 −4 ) and 128 (88%) at nominal significance ( P < 0.05). LAMA2 variant rs12193446, for example, had an effect size varying from −0.20 diopters (95% CI −0.18 to −0.23) to −0.89 diopters (95% CI −0.71 to −1.07) in different individuals. SNP effects were strongest at the phenotype extremes and weaker in emmetropes. A parsimonious explanation for these findings is that gene-environment or gene-gene interactions in myopia are pervasive.

The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is based on a combination of clinical and paraclinical tests. The potential contribution of retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been recognized. We tested the feasibility of OCT measures of retinal asymmetry as a diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis at the community level. In this community-based study of 72 120 subjects, we examined the diagnostic potential of the inter-eye difference of inner retinal OCT data for multiple sclerosis using the UK Biobank data collected at 22 sites between 2007 and 2010. OCT reporting and quality control guidelines were followed. The inter-eye percentage difference (IEPD) and inter-eye absolute difference (IEAD) were calculated for the macular retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL), ganglion cell inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) complex and ganglion cell complex. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) comparisons were followed by univariate and multivariable comparisons accounting for a large range of diseases and co-morbidities. Cut-off levels were optimized by ROC and the Youden index. The prevalence of multiple sclerosis was 0.0023 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.00229–0.00231]. Overall the discriminatory power of diagnosing multiple sclerosis with the IEPD AUROC curve (0.71, 95% CI 0.67–0.76) and IEAD (0.71, 95% CI 0.67–0.75) for the macular GCIPL complex were significantly higher if compared to the macular ganglion cell complex IEPD AUROC curve (0.64, 95% CI 0.59–0.69, P = 0.0017); IEAD AUROC curve (0.63, 95% CI 0.58–0.68, P &lt; 0.0001) and macular RNFL IEPD AUROC curve (0.59, 95% CI 0.54–0.63, P &lt; 0.0001); IEAD AUROC curve (0.55, 95% CI 0.50–0.59, P &lt; 0.0001). Screening sensitivity levels for the macular GCIPL complex IEPD (4% cut-off) were 51.7% and for the IEAD (4 μm cut-off) 43.5%. Specificity levels were 82.8% and 86.8%, respectively. The number of co-morbidities was important. There was a stepwise decrease of the AUROC curve from 0.72 in control subjects to 0.66 in more than nine co-morbidities or presence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease. In the multivariable analyses greater age, diabetes mellitus, other eye disease and a non-white ethnic background were relevant confounders. For most interactions, the effect sizes were large (partial ω2 &gt; 0.14) with narrow confidence intervals. In conclusion, the OCT macular GCIPL complex IEPD and IEAD may be considered as supportive measurements for multiple sclerosis diagnostic criteria in a young patient without relevant co-morbidity. The metric does not allow separation of multiple sclerosis from neuromyelitis optica. Retinal OCT imaging is accurate, rapid, non-invasive, widely available and may therefore help to reduce need for invasive and more costly procedures. To be viable, higher sensitivity and specificity levels are needed.