Medium-term outcomes following photo screening
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe

A photo-screening project of preverbal children was conducted in 2016 in Portugal consisting of enrolment of two-year-old children and referral of these if having a positive screen to paediatric ophthalmology plus a screen of four-year-old children who missed or had a negative screen at two years or were negative on paediatric ophthalmology review. This study presents the medium-term results. Screening was done with the PlusOptix A09. Of 2697 children referred to screening, 54.3% attended (n=1465). Positive results were found in 18.2% (n=267) and were referred to paediatric ophthalmology. Of these, 161 were seen comprising 62% male, 38% female. Cycloplegic refraction was completed for 89.4% of which 65% were astigmatic, 31.5% hypermetropic and 3.5% myopic. Strabismus was found in 1.9%. Criteria for amblyopia were met by 5.6%. Glasses were given to 31.1% and occlusion to 2.5% with mean follow-up of three years. Visual acuity improved for all given glasses and 94.3% achieved 20/25 or better visual acuity in either eye. Improvement was also noted for all receiving occlusion. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of early vision screening and early treatment when needed.

The impact of early photoscreening on medium-term visual acuity: a population-based study.
Oliveira I, Ferreira A, Vieira R, et al.
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY AND STRABISMUS
2023;60(3):178-83.