African-American and Hispanic children tested for varied eye conditions


The American Academy of Ophthalmology have released their annual studies which includes an interest report on varying eye conditions between African-American and Hispanic children. The hope is that with awareness of childhood eye conditions such as anisometropia, they could be treated to give the child normal vision if found early enough.

Conducted by The Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS) of the Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, one of the first tests were carried out to test visual conditions within children and the differences between certain races. The eyesight of African-American and Hispanic children were compared and analysed for farsightedness (hyperopia), nearsightedness (myopia) and refraction difference between the two eyes (anisometropia).

Around 6,000 children, aged from around 6 months to 6 years were tested with 9/10 of them considered as having “normal” vision. Otherwise, farsightedness was present more in Hispanic (26.9%) than African-American (20.8%) children; with the presence of this condition being less predominant from the ages of 6 to 24 months, before increasing or becoming constant. This does suggest that farsightedness is not always a condition that can be grown out of with age. On the other hand, African-American children (6.6%) had increased chances of being nearsighted than Hispanic children (3.7%). However, the results did show that these percentages were reduced as the children became older, particularly in the African-American’s studied (at 6-11 months 14% were nearsighted, with only 4% from the age of 4 years).

Anisometropia was found in equal amounts in both ethnic groups, with around 4-6% of children at preschool age suffering from the condition. The condition is also associated with misaligned eyes (strabismus) and lazy eye (amblyopia). These can severely impair the child’s vision; particularly in the case of a “lazy eye”, in which one eye progressively loses vision whilst the other continues to work. However, with early recognition of the disease, it can be rectified with constant treatment and normal vision regained.

More studies do need conducting in relation to these childhood visual problems, however screenings in children before preschool age could help detect these and allow prompt treatment early on to hopefully maintain the child’s normal vision.

6th January 2010

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