Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are approximately 19 million visually impaired children worldwide, and most of the conditions are treatable by early intervention at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Objective: To assess the status of paediatric eye care services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among eye care professionals (optometrists and ophthalmologists) in public sector hospitals in various regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through an online self-administered paediatric eye care service questionnaire based on a validated questionnaire. Results: A total of 137 completed questionnaires were obtained, with a response rate of 83%. The highest percentage of trained paediatric teams at hospitals was recorded at 95% in the eastern region (p= 0.024), while the lowest percentage was 44% in the southern region. Trained paediatric nurses were available in 88% of the eastern region hospitals, followed by 56% of the central region hospitals (p= 0.001). Services such as separate paediatric optometry clinics, dedicated ophthalmology outpatient clinics, and advanced diagnostic equipment were significantly higher in number in the eastern region than in the other regions (p˂0.001). The general status of human resources of eye professionals reveals that 73% of the facilities had both trained optometrists and ophthalmologists, approximately 70.8% had anaesthesiologists available, and almost 73.7% had easy access to available paediatricians. Conclusion: The overall quality of paediatric eye-related health care is satisfactory in most Saudi regions. However, there are some discrepancies among the regions in paediatric eye care services and facility types, which may need to be addressed by decision-makers in the Ministry of Health.
It has been reported that refractive errors (RE) and binocular vision (BV) anomalies are common among university students. In this study we aimed to assess RE and BV status among university students in Saudi Arabia, and its relation to the academic performance. We recruited 109 participants (aged from 18 to 21 years). Visual acuity (VA) and objective refraction were used to assess the refractive status. Cover test, near-point convergence (NPC) and stereopsis tests were used to assess the BV status. Convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS) was applied to quantify near-work related symptoms. Mann-Whitney U test (p value was set as p < 0.05) was used to compare VA, CISS, NPC and the academic performance between the groups who had heterophoria versus orthophoria. We found that there was only 38% emmetrope, while the percentage of heterophoria was 45.8%. The academic performance was not statistically different among the two groups, but CISS and stereopsis scores were significantly different (p < 0.03). We concluded that RE and BV anomalies were common among university students in Saudi Arabia, but did not affect the academic performance. More studies are warranted to understand the low scores of CISS and stereoacuity, and their association with RE and BV anomalies.
BACKGROUND: Sheard and Percival assumed that symptoms from latent strabismus can be avoided if the relevant fusional vergence is adequate to support the heterophoria. AIM: The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of Sheard’s and Percival’s criterion for the diagnosis of heterophoria. METHODS: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was performed at Al-Neelain Eye Hospital Khartoum, Sudan from February to October 2019. Heterophoria was measured using Maddox Wing and fusional vergence using a prism bar. Thereafter, Sheard’s and Percival’s criteria were used for the diagnosis of heterophoria. RESULTS: A total of 230 participants (age = 15–30 years; mean age = 19.34 ± 3.325 years) were recruited for this study. The Sheard’s criteria showed a high sensitivity of 87.2% and a low specificity of 8.0% for the diagnosing of exophoria, with positive and negative predictive values of 65.5% and 26%, respectively. The criteria showed a relatively low sensitivity of 77.8% and a specificity of 9.0% in the diagnosis of esophoria, with a positive and negative predictive values of 56% and 20%, respectively. Percival criteria showed high sensitivity 84.2% and low specificity 9.1% in diagnosing esophoria, with a positive and negative predictive value of 61.5% and 25%, respectively. On the other hand, the criteria showed low sensitivity 67.4% and specificity 13.8% in diagnosing exophoria, with positive and negative predictive value 61.9% and 17%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Sheard’s and Percival’s criteria are useful in diagnosing binocular vision problems. Sheard’s criteria are accurate in diagnosing near exophoria and Percival’s criteria are more accurate in diagnosing near esophoria. Therefore, these criteria provide good clues and predictions for the diagnosis of binocular vision problems.
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