Spectrum of congenital defects of the eye and its adnexia in the pediatric age group; experience at a tertiary facility in Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the types and presentation pattern of congenital defects of the eye and adnexia in our center. This is a retrospective review of congenital defects of the eye and adnexia over a 20-month period at a tertiary referral center in Lagos, Nigeria. Records were analyzed for age at presentation, laterality, gender, vision assessment, and type(s) of abnormality. Out of 412 pediatric patients, 40 (9.7 %) were seen to have congenital abnormality of the eye and/or its adnexia during the study period. There were 17 (42.5 %) males. Twelve patients (30.0 %) presented with involvement of the right eyes, nine (22.5 %) with left eyes, while 19 (47.5 %) had bilateral involvement. Twenty-eight patients (70.0 %) were aged 1 year or less at the time of presentation. A total of 69 entities were recognized as some children had two or more malformations. The common congenital defects identified were cataract (39.1 %), ptosis (17.4 %), glaucoma (8.7 %), and cornea opacity (7.2 %). Other less common congenital defects include: microphthalmos, anophthalmos, coloboma (lid and iris), dermoid cyst, and aniridia. All of the patients with available visual acuity documentation had visual impairment. A high proportion of the patients were lost to follow-up. Cataract, ptosis, and glaucoma were the commonest congenital defects of the eye and adnexia in our center and were associated with visual impairments. The significant loss of the patients during follow-up needs urgent investigation and attention to forestall this trend.

Pattern of Congenital Ocular Anomalies among Children Seen at a West African Tertiary Eye Care Centre

“…It was also the most common unilateral and bilateral COA. This is in agreement with the findings of many previous studies both within and outside Africa [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, it was the second most common COA from the observation of Eballe et al [13], Lawan [7] as well as Bermejo and Martinez-Friaz [9].…”

“…Approximately three-fifth of the patients had bilateral affectation. This is in agreement with the observations of Adekoya et al [11] and Lawan [7]. However, there was a slightly more involvement of the left eye in unilateral ocular COA compared to right eye involvement contrary to the findings of Adekoya et al [11].…”

“…Many authors had reported the predominance of COA among males [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]12]. On the contrary, Adekoya et al [11] reported COA predominance among the females studied. This suggests that COA can affect both males and females.…”

“…Prevalence of COA from previous studies from Nigeria ranged from 1.7% to 10.3%. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Eballe et al [13] reported a prevalence of 6.65% among children aged 0-5 years in Cameroun while Kaimbo Wa Kaimbo et al [14] reported a prevalence of 2.2% in Zaire. Furthermore, Ilechie et al [8] reported a markedly high prevalence 54% in a Ghanaian Paediatric Eye Centre that receives referral from the whole country while Bermejo and Martinez-Friaz reported a prevalence of 3.68/10000 newborns in an analysis of consecutive births in Spain [9].…”

Congenital Glaucoma

“…The common congenital defects were cataract (39.1%), Ptosis (17.4%) and glaucoma (8.7%). 17 The review study of congenital eye disorders between Jan. 1994 to December 2004 was carried out in teaching hospital Sagamu, Nigeria. The most common congenital malformations were cataract 50 (47.6%) and congenital glaucoma 15 (14.3%).…”