INTRODUCTIONThe visual status of children with learning disabilities has not been extensively studied. This study aimed to compare vision disorders between children in mainstream classes and those with learning disabilities attending special education classes in government primary schools in Malaysia.

METHODSIn this cross-sectional comparative study, 60 school children (30 from mainstream classes and 30 from special education classes) who were matched in age (6-12 years old) and ethnicity (Malay, Chinese and Indian) were examined. The subjects were recruited using non-probability convenience sampling. A complete eye examination was performed to detect three major vision disorders, namely refractive error, lag of accommodation and convergence insufficiency.

RESULTSThe overall prevalence of refractive error, lag of accommodation and convergence insufficiency was found to be 65.0%, 43.3% and 35.2%, respectively. Convergence insufficiency (χ² = 24.073, p < 0.001) was found to be associated with children in special education classes. No association was found between refractive error and lag of accommodation (p > 0.05) with the type of classes.

CONCLUSIONChildren in special education classes are more likely to have convergence insufficiency compared to children in mainstream classes. Thus, vision screening programmes for children in special education classes may need to be modified.

Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education, Special ; Female ; Humans ; Learning Disorders ; complications ; epidemiology ; Mainstreaming (Education) ; Malaysia ; epidemiology ; Male ; Prevalence ; Schools ; Vision Disorders ; epidemiology ; Vision Screening ; methods ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVETo explore the prevalence of vision, mental, audibility, language, psychiatry, extremity, and influence factors in the 0 - 7 year olds.

METHODSA total number of 77,727 0 - 7 year old children living in Shenzhen city were tested with tree phase screening under the Chinese standard of evaluation in disabilities.

RESULTSThe prevalence of all disabilities was 5.59 per thousand (adjusted rate was 8.49 per thousand with a false negative of 3.1 per thousand ). The prevalence of mental disease was the highest (1.88 per thousand, with adjusted rate 3.43 per thousand ), the prevalence of language disability was 1.88 per thousand (including retarded language development, with adjusted rate 3.43 per thousand ). The prevalence rates of psychiatry, extremity and audibility disability were 1.59 per thousand, 1.56 per thousand, 1.11 per thousand respectively with of vision the lowest (0.37 per thousand ). The prevalence of all disabilities, audibility, language and mental was on the increase with age. The difference was statistically significant. Among all different age groups regarding psychiatric disease, the highest fell in the 2 - 4 year olds. The prevalence of extremity was not statistically different among age groups. The suspected agents of disease which occurred before or during pregnancy took up 45.7%.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of six kinds disabilities in Shenzhen was about 10 per thousand lower than that of the samples of the nation in 1989, but two times higher than that of similar studies in Japan. The prevalence rates of language and psychiatric disease were higher than that of the nation in 1989. The causation should be further studied.

Age Factors ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Disabled Children ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Language Disorders ; epidemiology ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Vision Disorders ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between the classification and degree of diabetic macular edema (DME) and the stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR), diabetic duration, classification of diabetes, use of insulin, and visual loss.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the stages of DR, diabetic duration, classification of diabetes, use of insulin, and visual loss in 1 172 DR patients with fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA). The occurrence of DME in DR in each stage and the relationships between its related factors were analyzed.

RESULTSIn 1 172 patients, 633 eyes in 394 patients had DME (33.62%), including 265 (41.86%) with focal DME and 368 (58.14%) with diffuse DME. There were 246 (38.86%) eyes with mild DME, 189 (29.86%) with moderate DME, and 198 (31.28%) with severe DME. Significant correlations exhisted among the classification of DME (r = 0.975, P = 0.025), the degree of DME (r = 1.000, P = 0.000), and the stage of DR. DME deteriorated with the increase of the stages of DR. The visual loss significantly correlated with the degree of DME (r = -0.984, P = 0.003). The visual acuity was lower in patients with diffuse DME than those with focal DME. The diabetic duration significantly correlated with the classification and degree of DME (r = 0.962, P = 0.009). DME was mostly seen in patients with a disease course of six years or longer, and its severity and incidence increased along with the prolonged period. Also, The incidence of DME increased in patients with type 2 diabetes and patients who used insulin.

CONCLUSIONThe classification and degree of DME correlates with the stages of DR, diabetic duration, the classification of diabetes, the use of insulin, and visual loss.

Diabetic Retinopathy ; classification ; complications ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Insulin ; therapeutic use ; Macular Edema ; classification ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Vision Disorders ; complications ; epidemiology

This survey comparing the primary causes of eye disease and visual impairment between rural and urban areas was conducted from the beginning of February through May of 1989. The outcome of that research on 686 residents (1372 eyes) of Buan-Kun, Chunbuk, and 997 residents (1994 eyes) of Dobong-Ku, Seoul, is as follows: 1. Of the basic ocular affections, pterygium was the most prevalent in Baun-Kun with 178 eyes (13.0%), while allergic and chronic conjunctivitis were in the majority in Dobong-Ku with 170 eyes (8.5%). 2. In causes of visual impairment, refractive error showed to be the main one in both Buan-Kun with 135 eyes (9.8%) and Dobong-Ku with 132 eyes (6.6%). 3. In rate of blindness, Buan-Kun had 7.0% monocular blindness and 3.2% of binocular blindness, while 4.1% of monocular blindness and 1.7% of binocular blindness were found in Dobong-Ku. 4. In causes of blindness, cataract (51.1%) was followed by macular degeneration (17.4%), corneal opacity (13.0%), and vascular retinopathy (9.8%) in Buan-Kun, while cataract (56.0%), macular degeneration (6.7%), corneal opacity (6.7%), and phthisis (6.7%) were recorded in that order in Dobong-Ku.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Blindness/epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Eye Diseases/*epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Random Allocation ; Vision Disorders/*epidemiology

Cerebral Palsy ; classification ; complications ; epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Developmental Disabilities ; complications ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Language Disorders ; complications ; Male ; Seizures ; complications ; Sex Factors ; Vision Disorders ; complications

The epidemiology of children with cortical visual impairment(CVI)has been poorly defined till now, so the purposes of this study were to define the visual prognosis and prevalence of ophthalmologic problems in Korean children. The 20 children with follow-up of over 3 months were included out of 24 children diagnosed with CVI. The causes of CVI were periventricular leukomalacia in 7, congenital malformation in 4, and cerebral infarct or atrophy. Twelve of 19 children who had visual impairment at their initial visit showed visual improvement with follow-up. There were strabismus in 14, nystagmus in 6, and abnormal optic disc in 8 of the 20 children. All visualevoked response results were abnormal, but were not providing a more reliable prognosis in vision. The children who had abnormal electroencephalogram had poor visual prognosis as well as delayed developmental level. In conclusion, this study identified that children with CVI may be presented with a variety of ocular abnormalities, including strabismus, nystagmus, and abnormal optic disc. These findings suggest that a better understanding of the natural course will be required in children with CVI.
Atrophy ; Child* ; Electroencephalography ; Epidemiology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Leukomalacia, Periventricular ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Strabismus ; Vision Disorders*

PURPOSE: Information regarding corneal dystrophy among Koreans were examined according to the subtypes. METHODS: Two hundred sixteen patients, 340 eyes, diagnosed as corneal dystrophy and followed by one ophthalmologist from the year 1993 to 2001 were include. The incidence of the disease, the progression level of visual impairment, differences between genders, treatment method, and rate of recurrence after the treatment were analyzed according to the location of the lesion. RESULTS: Granular dystrophy was the most common type (103 eyes, 29.17%). There were 84 eyes (23.61%) with Fuchs dystrophy and 46 eyes (12.96%) with macular dystrophy. Macular dystrophy had the most rapid disease progression with 0.18 reduction in eyesight every year. There was a higher prevelance in female than male granular dystrophy (15.9/84.1%) and in Fuchs dystropy (23.5/76.5%). Keratoplasty was the most popular method of treatment in 45%. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference of prevalence in between Koreans and Western people. The most common type of corneal dystrophy was granular dystrophy. Infrequent type of dystrophy tended to increase by virtue of the development in diagnotic medicine.
Corneal Transplantation ; Disease Progression ; Epidemiology* ; Female ; Fuchs' Endothelial Dystrophy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Macular Degeneration ; Male ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Virtues ; Vision Disorders

OBJECTIVETo analyze the comorbidities in patients with cerebral palsy (CP) from two perspectives as neurologic subtype and gross motor functions, and find their correlations.

METHODSChildren with cerebral palsy treated in the rehabilitation center from January 2007 to June 2009 received the following examinations: intelligence capacity test, ophthalmologic consultation, language-speech test, brainstem auditory evoked potential and electroencephalogram. They were stratified according to both neurologic subtype and gross motor functions to detect the occurrence of comorbidities.

RESULTSOf all the 354 cases, 166 (46.89%) had mental retardation, 15 (4.24%) auditory limitations, 138 (38.98%) visual disorder, 216 (61.02%) language-speech disorder and 82 (23.16%) epilepsy. The frequency of individual comorbidities were distributed disproportionately between the different neurologic subtypes. Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between the spastic diplegia and the visual disorder (correlation coefficient = 0.26), between spastic hemiplegia and epilepsy (correlation coefficient = 0.17), between spastic quadriplegia and epilepsy and mental retardation (the correlation coefficient was 0.38 and 0.11, respectively) and between both dyskinetic and mixed children and language-speech disorder (the correlation coefficient was 0.24 and 0.27, respectively). The frequency of individual comorbidities was distributed disproportionately between the different neurologic subtypes and between the different GMFCS levels (P < 0.05), except for the frequency of visual disorders (chi(2) = 1.90, P > 0.05); and with the increase of the GMFCS levels, the burden of the comorbidities were more heavy and the incidence of the comorbidities was higher. Multi-comorbidities were relatively infrequently encountered in those with spastic hemiplegic or spastic diplegic children or patients whose GMFCS levels were I-III, while these entities occurred at a frequent level for those with spastic quadriplegic, dyskinetic, or mixed or children whose GMFCS levels were IV and V, and the differences were significant (P < 0.05). The mean GMFCS levels of children with spastic quadriplegic, dyskinetic or mixed CP were higher than level III, most of them had no ability of ambulation;while the mean GMFCS levels of spastic hemiplegic or spastic diplegic children were below level III, most of them could walk independently.

CONCLUSIONSThere are correlations between the occurrence of the comorbidities such as mental retardation, auditory or visual impairments, language-speech disorders, epilepsy and the cerebral palsy subtype and the gross motor function levels. Clinicians should have a full recognition of these comorbidities, and we should have a cooperation between the different subjects to have an overall evaluation and rehabilitation and to improve the prognosis.

Adolescent ; Cerebral Palsy ; classification ; epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Comorbidity ; Epilepsy ; classification ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Motor Skills ; classification ; Motor Skills Disorders ; classification ; epidemiology ; Quadriplegia ; classification ; epidemiology ; Vision Disorders ; classification ; epidemiology

This study evaluated the visual quality after wavefront-guided laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for treating myopia. Thirty-two eyes with moderate myopia (-5.78~-2.17D) and 25 eyes with high myopia (-7.78~-6.17D) were prospectively reviewed. The contrast sensitivity (CS), glare and the total higher order aberrations (HOA) were measured before and 1 week, 1 month and 2 months after LASIK. The pupil diameter was measured at day- and night-time illumination. The CS and glare at all spatial frequencies were not reduced after wavefront-guided LASIK (p<0.05) and the difference between the moderate and high myopia group was not significant. No significant correlation was found between the amounts of myopia and the postoperative CS (p>0.05). The area under the log contrast sensitivity function (AULCSF) showed no correlation with the total HOA (r2=-0.071, p=0.612, between the daytime AULCSF and the total HOA with a 4 mm entrance pupil, r2=-0.176, p=0.260, between the nighttime AULCSF and the total HOA with a 6 mm entrance pupil). There was no decrease in CS and glare after wavefront-guided LASIK for myopia. In conclusion, wavefront-guided LASIK based on the individual ablation patterns is a good option for refractive surgery to improve the visual quality in both moderate and high myopia cases.
Adult ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ/*statistics and numerical data ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Myopia/*diagnosis/epidemiology/*surgery ; Prognosis ; Recovery of Function ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Treatment Outcome ; Vision Disorders/*diagnosis/epidemiology/*prevention and control ; *Vision Tests ; *Visual Acuity

INTRODUCTIONTo assess the association between sensory and cognitive function, and the potential influence of visual function on cognitive function assessment, in a sample of clients accessing aged care services.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe recruited 260 non-institutionalised, frail, older individuals who sought aged care services. Visual acuity was assessed using a LogMAR chart and hearing function was measured using a portable pure-tone air conduction audiometer. Visual impairment was defined as visual acuity (VA) <6/12 (<39 letters read correctly in the better eye), moderate-to-severe hearing impairment as hearing thresholds >40 decibels (better ear) and cognitive impairment as Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score <24.

RESULTSVision and hearing assessments were randomly performed in 168 and 164 aged care clients, respectively. Visual acuity correlated weakly with MMSE scores, either including (r = 0.27, P <0.001) or excluding (r = 0.21, P = 0.006) vision-related MMSE items. After partialling out the effect of age, the association remained (r = 0.23, P = 0.013 including, or r = 0.18, P = 0.044 excluding vision-related items). No correlation was found between MMSE scores and hearing thresholds (r = -0.07, P = 0.375). After adjusting for age, sex and stroke, mean MMSE scores were lower in persons with visual impairment than those with normal vision (25.2 + 0.5 versus 26.8 + 0.4 including, or 18.2 + 0.5 versus 19.2 + 0.3 excluding vision-related items), but were similar between subjects with none or mild and those with moderate-to-severe hearing loss (26.3 + 0.4 versus 26.0 + 0.4).

CONCLUSIONSIn this study sample, visual and cognitive functions were modestly associated, after excluding the influence of visual impairment on the MMSE assessment and adjusting for age. Hearing thresholds were not found to be associated with cognitive function.

Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Australia ; epidemiology ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; complications ; epidemiology ; Female ; Frail Elderly ; Geriatric Assessment ; Health Services for the Aged ; utilization ; Hearing Loss ; complications ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Pilot Projects ; Risk Assessment ; Sensation ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vision Disorders ; complications ; epidemiology