Abstract
Background
Amblyopia and its risk factors have been demonstrated to be more common amongst children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. We sought to investigate this association in a region with orthoptic-delivered screening and whole population coverage, and to also examine the association of the Health Plan Indicator (HPI) with screening outcome.
Methods
Screening examination outcomes, postcodes and HPIs were extracted from the community child health database for every child who underwent pre-school vision screening between March 2010 and February 2011. We obtained the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) score for every child as a measure of area-based deprivation. We assessed the vulnerability/needs of the individual family through the HPI – ‘Core’ (children and families receiving universal health visiting service), ‘Additional’ (receiving additional health/social support) and ‘Intensive’ (receiving high levels of support). The outcomes from follow up
examinations for those who failed screening were extracted from the orthoptic department database.
Results
4365 children were screened during the year 2010-11 of whom 523 (11.9%) failed. The odds of children from the least deprived socio-economic group passing the visual screening test was 1.4 times higher than those from the most deprived socio-economic group (OR 1.4, 95%CI 1.07-1.89, p=0.01). The odds of a child from a family assigned as ‘Intensive’ failing the pre-school visual screening test was 3 times greater than the odds of a child from a family
assigned as ‘Core’ (OR 3.59, 95%CI 1.6-7.8, p=0.001).
Conclusion
We found that children from the most deprived backgrounds and those from unstable homes were more likely to fail pre-school vision screening.
Amblyopia and its risk factors have been demonstrated to be more common amongst children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. We sought to investigate this association in a region with orthoptic-delivered screening and whole population coverage, and to also examine the association of the Health Plan Indicator (HPI) with screening outcome.
Methods
Screening examination outcomes, postcodes and HPIs were extracted from the community child health database for every child who underwent pre-school vision screening between March 2010 and February 2011. We obtained the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) score for every child as a measure of area-based deprivation. We assessed the vulnerability/needs of the individual family through the HPI – ‘Core’ (children and families receiving universal health visiting service), ‘Additional’ (receiving additional health/social support) and ‘Intensive’ (receiving high levels of support). The outcomes from follow up
examinations for those who failed screening were extracted from the orthoptic department database.
Results
4365 children were screened during the year 2010-11 of whom 523 (11.9%) failed. The odds of children from the least deprived socio-economic group passing the visual screening test was 1.4 times higher than those from the most deprived socio-economic group (OR 1.4, 95%CI 1.07-1.89, p=0.01). The odds of a child from a family assigned as ‘Intensive’ failing the pre-school visual screening test was 3 times greater than the odds of a child from a family
assigned as ‘Core’ (OR 3.59, 95%CI 1.6-7.8, p=0.001).
Conclusion
We found that children from the most deprived backgrounds and those from unstable homes were more likely to fail pre-school vision screening.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1109-1113 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | British Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Volume | 100 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 23 Nov 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2016 |
Keywords
- Vision Screening
- Socioeconomic Factors
- amblyopia
- psychosocial deprivation
- strabismus