Page 28 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition November-December 2021

an area of the light-sensing
CHILDREN WITH DIABETIC retina called the fovea, which
MOTHERS PRONE TO HIGH is important for central vision.
The slightest misalignment of
REFRACTIVE ERRORS the foveas can interfere with
the brain’s ability to integrate
A new study has found that children of mothers who had images from both eyes. The
diabetes before or during their pregnancy tenure are more likely device calculates a binocularity
to develop high refractive error. score that indicates whether
the child requires referral to an
According to the study, which was published in Diabetologia, eye health physician for further
(the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes investigation.
[EASD]), researchers from China and Denmark analysed data
from 2,470,580 babies born between 1977 and 2016 in Denmark. For the study, 300 children,
ages 2 to 6 years, with no known
The research was done by Dr Jiangbo Du, State Key eye disorders were recruited
Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, during previously scheduled
Nanjing, China, and Dr Jiong Li, Aarhus University, Aarhus, visits to two Kaiser Permanente
Denmark, and colleagues. They discovered that the proportion Southern California paediatric
of mothers with diabetes (type 1, type 2 or gestational) before or clinics. The paediatric vision
during pregnancy increased from 0.4% in 1977 to 6.5% in 2016. screener tested in the study is
Children who had diabetic mothers had a 39% greater chance of a prototype of blinq. a device
®
high refractive error in comparison to non-diabetic mothers. that was cleared by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
The study team concluded that early screening was a must in 2016.
for determining and treating refractive errors in order to improve
eye health outcomes. “In the hands of a trained
user, it takes 28 seconds to
“Early ophthalmological screening should be recommended sit the child down, perform
in offspring of mothers with diabetes diagnosed before or during the test, and record the
pregnancy,” they stated. results – provided that the
child cooperates – which is an
NEW DEVICE TO CATCH important consideration for
its adoption in busy paediatric
AMBLYOPIA EARLY care settings,” said the study’s
co-lead investigator, Shaival
Amblyopia or lazy eye usually develops as a result of S. Shah, M.D., a paediatric
misalignment of the eyes (strabismus) or when decreased acuity ophthalmologist at Kaiser
in one eye interferes with the brain’s ability to process visual Permanente based in Tustin
information from both eyes, causing it to favour one eye. Once Ranch, California. The test itself
a child is visually mature, vision lost in the weaker eye cannot be requires just 2.5 seconds of a
corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Therefore, early detection child’s attention.
is necessary to treat this condition as it can affect children’s success “The findings suggest that
in school and lifelong visual acuity. paediatricians and other primary
According to a study published in the Journal of the American care providers could use the
Association for Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, a new device to catch amblyopia at
handheld screening device has been developed that is capable of an early age when it’s easier to
detecting and accurately identifying children with amblyopia. treat,” said Michael F. Chiang,
M.D., director of the National Eye
The screening device works by gauging the eyes’ aptitude to Institute (NEI), which supported
fixate together. Held 14 inches from the eyes, the child fixates on research and development of
a smiley face while the device simultaneously scans both retinas. the device. NEI is part of the
The scan involves a polarised laser that probes nerve fibres in National Institutes of Health.

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