The authors aimed to explore the association between caregiver-reported visual impairment and cognitive and behavioural measures in children. They conducted a review of the literature plus evaluation of paediatric data from the 2022 National Health Interview survey accessed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. This included 6487 children aged 2–17 years; 51.4% male, 64% white, 11.4% black, 7.5% Asian, 2.5% American Indian/Alaska native. Of these, 95.3% did not report difficulty seeing. Difficulty seeing was reported by 4.7% and these were older, more likely to wear glasses, had eye examination in the past 12 months, had lower satisfaction with life and had worse mean overall health. There was no significant difference for health insurance coverage or vision insurance. Visual difficulties were associated with higher rates of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, intellectual difficulties, autism, developmental delay and learning disorders. The authors conclude that, by caregiver reports, children with visual impairment have higher rates of specific neurodevelopmental and behavioural problems as well as reduced overall health and lower life satisfaction. They acknowledge limitations of the study in that data is indirectly collected from caregivers so could either under or overestimate issues.
Caregiver reports of visual impairment in relation to cognitive and behaviour aspects in children
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe
Associations between pediatric mental health and vision from the 2022 National Health Interview survey.
CONTRIBUTOR
Fiona Rowe (Prof)
Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
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