Vision screening of preschool children in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of Amblyopia and other refractive errors and to identify the factors associated with these disorders.

METHODS: The study was carried out in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1999, on children enrolled in governmental kindergartens during the academic year 1419-1420H. Children were screened for Amblyopia, any child who failed to pass the screening examination, was referred to the ophthalmolgist for complete examination. A 95% confidence interval was used to describe the prevalence of eye disorders.

RESULTS: The number of children referred to the ophthalmologists was 102. Out of this figure, 70% of children kept their appointment. Seventy-two children had decreased visual acuity of 20/30 or worse. The final diagnoses were as follows: Amblyopia in 8 cases, which, give a prevalence rate of 1.3% (95% confidence intervals: 0.4-2.3); refractive errors in 50 cases (69%); strabismus in 4 cases (6%), duane syndrome in 2 cases (3%); and 8 children (11%) were completely normal. The positive predictive value of visual screening examination was 89%. We found no significant correlation between Amblyopia and the risk factors mentioned in the literature.

CONCLUSION: Vision screening is very important and recommended to be carried out as part of periodic health examination for pre school children. It is cost effective, highly sensitive, acceptable and easy to be administered.