Vision screening in preschool children: comparison of orthoptists and clinical medical officers as primary screeners.

OBJECTIVE

To see if there were differences in referral rates and abnormalities detected from two areas that were operating different preschool vision screening programmes.

DESIGN

Cohort study using case notes of referrals.

SETTING

Community based secondary referral centres in the county of Avon.

PATIENTS

263 referrals from a child population of 7105 in Southmead district, an area that used orthoptists as primary vision screeners; 111 referrals from a child population of 2977 in Weston-super-Mare, an area that used clinical medical officers for screening.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Amblyopia and squint detection rates, together with false positive referral rates.

RESULTS

The amblyopia detection rate in Southmead district was significantly higher than in Weston-super-Mare (11/1000 children v 5/1000), as was the detection rate of squint (11/1000 v 3/1000). However, the false positive referral rate from Southmead was significantly lower than that from Weston-super-Mare (9/1000 v 23/1000).

CONCLUSION

Preschool vision screening using orthoptists as primary screeners offers a more effective method of detecting visual abnormalities than using clinical medical officers.