Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Nov;116(11):2128-34.e1-2.
doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2009.04.034. Epub 2009 Sep 16.

Prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus in white and African American children aged 6 through 71 months the Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Study

David S Friedman  1 , Michael X Repka, Joanne Katz, Lydia Giordano, Josephine Ibironke, Patricia Hawse, James M Tielsch
Affiliations

Prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus in white and African American children aged 6 through 71 months the Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Study

David S Friedman et al. Ophthalmology. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the age-specific prevalence of strabismus in white and African American children aged 6 through 71 months and of amblyopia in white and African American children aged 30 through 71 months.

Design: Cross-sectional, population-based study.

Participants: White and African American children aged 6 through 71 months in Baltimore, MD, United States. Among 4132 children identified, 3990 eligible children (97%) were enrolled and 2546 children (62%) were examined.

Methods: Parents or guardians of eligible participants underwent an in-home interview and were scheduled for a detailed eye examination, including optotype visual acuity and measurement of ocular deviations. Strabismus was defined as a heterotropia at near or distance fixation. Amblyopia was assessed in those children aged 30 through 71 months who were able to perform optotype testing at 3 meters.

Main outcome measures: The proportions of children aged 6 through 71 months with strabismus and of children aged 30 through 71 months with amblyopia.

Results: Manifest strabismus was found in 3.3% of white and 2.1% of African American children (relative prevalence [RP], 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-2.66). Esotropia and exotropia each accounted for close to half of all strabismus in both groups. Only 1 case of strabismus was found among 84 white children 6 through 11 months of age. Rates were higher in children 60 through 71 months of age (5.8% for whites and 2.9% for African Americans [RP, 2.05; 95% CI, 0.79-5.27]). Amblyopia was present in 12 (1.8%) white and 7 (0.8%) African American children (RP, 2.23; 95% CI, 0.88-5.62). Only 1 child had bilateral amblyopia.

Conclusions: Manifest strabismus affected 1 in 30 white and 1 in 47 African American preschool-aged children. The prevalence of amblyopia was <2% in both whites and African Americans. National population projections suggest that there are approximately 677,000 cases of manifest strabismus among children 6 through 71 months of age and 271 000 cases of amblyopia among children 30 through 71 months of age in the United States.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Recruitment of the Study Cohort.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus.
    Pai A, Mitchell P. Pai A, et al. Ophthalmology. 2010 Oct;117(10):2043-4; author reply 2044. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2010.06.028. Ophthalmology. 2010. PMID: 20888491 No abstract available.

References

    1. Robaei D, Rose K, Ojaimi E, et al. Visual acuity and the causes of visual loss in a population-based sample of 6-year-old Australian children. Ophthalmology. 2005;112:1275–82. - PubMed
    1. Jakobsson P, Kvarnstrom G, Abrahamsson M, et al. The frequency of amblyopia among visually impaired persons. Acta Ophthalmol Scand. 2002;80:44–6. - PubMed
    1. Graham PA. Epidemiology of strabismus. Br J Ophthalmol. 1974;58:224–31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kvarnstrom G, Jakobsson P, Lennerstrand G. Visual screening of Swedish children: an ophthalmological evaluation. Acta Ophthalmol Scand. 2001;79:240–4. - PubMed
    1. Barry JC, Konig HH. Test characteristics of orthoptic screening examination in 3 year old kindergarten children. Br J Ophthalmol. 2003;87:909–16. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types