4.6 Article

Causes of Childhood Blindness in the United States Using the IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight)

Journal

OPHTHALMOLOGY
Volume 130, Issue 9, Pages 907-913

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2023.04.004

Keywords

Childhood blindness; IRIS registry; Retinopathy of prematurity

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This study investigated the causes of childhood blindness in the United States using the IRIS Registry. Among the 81,164 children included in the study, 1% had visual acuity of 20/200 or worse in their better-seeing eye. The main causes of blindness were retinopathy of prematurity (31.3%), nystagmus (8.1%), and cataract (6.7%). Over half of the blind patients had treatable causes of blindness.
Purpose: To investigate causes of childhood blindness in the United States using the IRIS (R) Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight). Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: Patients < 18 years of age with visual acuity (VA) 20/200 or worse in their better-seeing eye in the IRIS Registry during 2018. Methods: Causes of blindness were classified by anatomic site and specific diagnoses. Main Outcome Measures: Percentages of causes of blindness. Results: Of 81 164 children with 2018 VA data in the IRIS Registry, 961 (1.18%) had VA 20/200 or worse in their better-seeing eye. Leading causes of blindness were retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in 301 patients (31.3%), nystagmus in 78 patients (8.1%), and cataract in 64 patients (6.7%). The retina was the leading anatomic site (47.7%) followed by optic nerve (11.6%) and lens (10.0%). A total of 52.4% of patients had treatable causes of blindness. Conclusions: This analysis offers a unique cross-sectional view of childhood blindness in the United States using a clinical data registry. More than one-half of blind patients had a treatable cause of blindness. Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article. Ophthalmology 2023;130:907-913 <(c)> 2023 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology

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