Ocular Pathologies in Children with Mental Retardation: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Aim:The aim of this study is to investigate the ocular pathologies in mentally retarded pediatric patients without Down syndrome or any certain chromosomal-genetic anomaly. Material and Methods: A total of 189 patients, including 79 mental retarded and 110 healthy children, were included in this study between 2010 and 2011. Demographic factors (age, gender) of the patients, and affected side, visual acuity, esotropia, exotropia, anterior segment pathologies and posterior segment pathologies were evaluated. All pediatric patients in study group were divided as IQ level <34, 35-49, 50-69, and >70 according to Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Form. Results: The mean age of the children with mental retardation was 11.85±6.19 (3-17) years, while the mean age of healthy children was 10.73±3.35 (3-15) years. While visual impairment was present in 8 of the 74 patients whose vision was evaluated, there was no impairment in the healthy group (p=0.001 and p=0.004 for right and left, respectively). Anterior segment pathology was detected in 2 (2.5%) cases, and posterior segment pathology in 3 (3.8%) cases in children with low IQ. While strabismus was detected in 7 (8.9%) patients with low IQ, no strabismus was found in healthy children. Five (6.3%) of the cases with mental retardation had exotropia and 2 (2.5%) had esotropia. Exotropia was found significantly higher in children with mental retardation compared to the control group (p=0.012). Conclusion:Visual impairment, anterior-posterior segment pathology, exotropia had a high prevalence in children with mental retardation, and all ocular pathologies were related to low intellectual disability.