Open AccessVisual impairment in Swedish children
Author(s) -
Blohmé Jonas,
Tornqvist Kristina
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1600-0420
pISSN - 1395-3907
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0420.1997.tb00630.x
Subject(s) - medicine , visual impairment , pediatrics , nystagmus , optic nerve hypoplasia , retinopathy of prematurity , atrophy , strabismus , optic nerve , ophthalmology , audiology , pathology , gestational age , psychiatry , pregnancy , genetics , biology
. Purpose: To gain an overview of the spectrum of diagnoses among Swedish visually impaired children. Methods: An epidemiological study of all known visually impaired children was made by review of medical records. Results and conclusion: In all we found 2373 children, 0–19 years of age, with an age‐specific prevalence of 10.9/10 000. The two largest diagnostic groups included neuro‐ophthalmological and retinal diseases. The most frequent disorders were cerebral visual impairment, non‐hereditary optic atrophy, retinal dystrophy (when regarded as a general entity), congenital hypoplasia of the optic nerve and congenital cataract. Nystagmus secondary to brain disorder, albinism, congenital nystagmus, retinopathy of prematurity and high myopia were also found in a considerable number of patients. The leading diagnoses in children with WHO‐defined childhood blindness were non‐hereditary optic atrophy, cerebral visual impairment and retinopathy of prematurity. A large proportion of the children, especially in the groups with neuro‐ophthalmological disorders and malformations of the posterior segment had additional impairments, emphasizing the importance of a multi‐disciplinary approach when assessing multi‐handicapped children.