Screening for visual and ocular disorders in children, evaluation of the system in Sweden

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the visual screening system in Sweden. We have made a retrospective investigation of the results of screening for ocular disease and visual impairment of all children born in 1982 in three Swedish communities. The records from screening examinations from 0 to 10 y and from diagnostic follow‐up at the departments of ophthalmology that the children were referred to were inspected. The data were used to evaluate the efficiency of the Swedish visual screening system. The study included 3126 children. The attendance rate at the 4‐y examination was better than 99%. The sensitivity of the 4‐ and 5.5‐y screening examinations was on the average 92% and the specificity was 97%. The average number of false negative cases at 4 y was 5.6 in 1000 (0.56%). With this screening and subsequent diagnosis and treatment, the prevalence of amblyopia at different levels of visual acuity at the age of 10 y was: 0.06% with visual acuity <0.1,0.9% with visual acuity <0.5 and 1.7% with visual acuity < 0.7. In spite of largely unchanged pressure of amblyogenic factors in the population, the prevalence of deep and moderate amblyopia has been markedly reduced by screening and early treatment.

COVID-19 outbreak and increased risk of amblyopia and epidemic myopia: Insights from EUROCOVCAT group

“…Vision screening for school-age children is important to detect uncorrected refractive errors. 45,46 A WHO study has recommended that the screening of children for refractive errors should be integrated into school health programs and could be carried out by government and non-governmental organizations as well. 47 Pediatric health care providers will need to screen and treat children and counsel their parents and/or other caregivers during well-child visits with an eye care practitioner for these new or worsened environmental threats.…”

Augenärztliche Versorgung früh- und reifgeborener Personen in deren Kindheit und Jugend – eine retrospektive Sicht der Eltern

“…This is reflected in the recommendations given by the professional organizations and supported by the previous GPES analyses. In a Swedish study [41] and based on results from the UK [42], the respective authors reported a lower frequency of amblyopia as detected in an amblyopia screening. Overall, the data from our study indicate that parents rated the care provided to prematurely and maturely born children in Germany between 1970-2000 as adequate, both in qualitative and quantitative terms.…”

“…Dies schlägt sich in den Empfehlungen der Fachgesellschaften nieder und wird von vorherigen Analysen der GPES untermauert. In einer schwedischen Studie [41] und anhand von Ergebnissen aus Großbritannien [42] berichteten die jeweiligen Autoren von einer niedrigeren Amblyopieprävalenz aufgrund der Durchführung eines Amblyopiescreenings. Insgesamt deuten die Daten der vorliegenden Arbeit darauf hin, dass die Versorgung der Früh-und Reifgeborenen in Deutschland in den Jahren 1970-2000 von den Eltern sowohl quantitativ als auch qualitativ als ausreichend empfunden wurde.…”