Common forms of childhood strabismus in an incidence cohort

Abstract

Purpose: To report the prevalent forms of childhood strabismus.

Design: Retrospective, population-based cohort study.

Methods: The medical records of all Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents younger than 19 years diagnosed with esotropia, exotropia, or hypertropia from January 1, 1985 through December 31, 1994, were reviewed.

Results: Six hundred twenty-seven new cases of childhood strabismus were identified during the 10-year study period, including 380 (60.1%) with esotropia, 205 (32.7%) with exotropia, and 42 (6.7%) with hypertropia. The five most common forms of strabismus included accommodative esotropia (27.9%), intermittent exotropia (16.9%), acquired nonaccommodative esotropia (10.2%), esotropia in children with an abnormal central nervous system (7.0%), and convergence insufficiency (6.4%).

Conclusions: This study provides population-based data on the most prevalent forms of childhood strabismus. Accommodative esotropia, intermittent exotropia, and acquired nonaccommodative esotropia were the predominant forms of strabismus in this Western population.