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

Publication/Presentation Date

9-1-2023

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate causes of childhood blindness in the United States using the IRIS® 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.

Volume

130

Issue

9

First Page

907

Last Page

913

ISSN

1549-4713

Disciplines

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods

PubMedID

37037315

Department(s)

Administration and Leadership

Document Type

Article

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