Anisometropia and its association with amblyopia in school going children

Abstract

Background: The frequent co-existence of amblyopia and anisometropia at a child's first clinical examination promotes the belief that the anisometropia has caused the amblyopia. Although anisometropia and amblyopia are often revealed at the same time during school vision screening, It is widely thought that anisometropia is a pioneer of amblyopia. Objective: To assess the degree of anisometropia and its association with amblyopia in school going children. Materials and Method: This prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Paediatric Ophthalmology in National Institute of Ophthalmology & Hospital from January 2017 to December 2018 over 50 diagnosed patients of anisometropic amblyopia age between 5-11 years. Selected patients underwent detail ophthalmic and systemic evaluation as well as relevant investigation. Visual acuity was assessed with special emphasis which includes unaided, with pinhole and after refraction. Visual acuity was recorded in Snellen’s chart. All the relevant data were recorded in pre-designed data collection sheet. Data were expressed as frequency, percentage, mean ± SD and Chi Square test and Logistic regression analysis was performed to observe Odds Ratio (OR). 95% confident interval (CI) was calculated and p value <0.05 was accepted as level of significance. Statistical analyses were performed by using IBM SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) Statistics for Windows version 26.0. Results: In this study, 21 (42%) patients were myopic, 10 (20%) were hyperopic and 19 (38%) were astigmatic. About 44% patients had mild anisometropia, 28% had moderate anisometropia and 28% patients had severe anisometropia. Forty-eight (48%) percent patients had mild amblyopia, 34% had moderate amblyopia and 18% patients had severe amblyopia. Our study revealed that Anisometropia was significantly (p<0.001) associated with amblyopia. Logistic Regression Analysis showed anisometropia was 2 times more risk for development of severe amblyopia. Conclusion: It can be concluded that anisometropia was an independent predictor for development of amblyopia in children.

J Med Coll Women Hosp.2026; 22(2): 59-64