Prevalence of blindness in children

Purpose: Calculate the prevalence of blindness in children in Western Australia. Methods: Blind children were identified either from the voluntary register of the Association for the Blind of Western Australia (List A) or from paediatric oph­thalmologists' clinics (List B). The cohort was defin...

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Main Authors: Crewe, Julie, Morlet, Nigel, Lam, G., Clark, Antony, Spilsbury, Katrina, Mukhtar, Syed Aqif, Morgan, W., Crowley, Margaret, Semmens, James
Other Authors: RANZCO
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43085
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author Crewe, Julie
Morlet, Nigel
Lam, G.
Clark, Antony
Spilsbury, Katrina
Mukhtar, Syed Aqif
Morgan, W.
Crowley, Margaret
Semmens, James
author2 RANZCO
author_facet RANZCO
Crewe, Julie
Morlet, Nigel
Lam, G.
Clark, Antony
Spilsbury, Katrina
Mukhtar, Syed Aqif
Morgan, W.
Crowley, Margaret
Semmens, James
author_sort Crewe, Julie
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: Calculate the prevalence of blindness in children in Western Australia. Methods: Blind children were identified either from the voluntary register of the Association for the Blind of Western Australia (List A) or from paediatric oph­thalmologists' clinics (List B). The cohort was defined as being legally blind on or before 30 September 2009 and born after 30 September 1991. Legal blindness was defined as having a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of LogMAR > 1 or < 10° diameter of visual field, or a combination of both reduced visual acuity and field restriction, resulting in an equivalent level of vision loss, in the better eye. Also included were chil­dren who could not fix or follow light, but whose acuity could not be measured. Using capture and recapture methods for 2 independent lists we esti­mated the population size and the 95% confidence intervals. Results: The estimated population of children who were blind in WA was calculated to be 110 (95% CI 81 to 139). This represents a prevalence of 0.02% of the population aged less than 18 years in 2009. Conclusions: There are few reliable data on the number of children who are blind. By using two overlapping and independent lists we have obtained an accurate estimate of the population size, consistent with published World Health Organization estimates. Less than half of the children who were legally blind were registered to receive rehabilitation and support services from the state provider.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-430852018-12-14T00:51:30Z Prevalence of blindness in children Crewe, Julie Morlet, Nigel Lam, G. Clark, Antony Spilsbury, Katrina Mukhtar, Syed Aqif Morgan, W. Crowley, Margaret Semmens, James RANZCO blindness children capture and recapture Purpose: Calculate the prevalence of blindness in children in Western Australia. Methods: Blind children were identified either from the voluntary register of the Association for the Blind of Western Australia (List A) or from paediatric oph­thalmologists' clinics (List B). The cohort was defined as being legally blind on or before 30 September 2009 and born after 30 September 1991. Legal blindness was defined as having a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of LogMAR > 1 or < 10° diameter of visual field, or a combination of both reduced visual acuity and field restriction, resulting in an equivalent level of vision loss, in the better eye. Also included were chil­dren who could not fix or follow light, but whose acuity could not be measured. Using capture and recapture methods for 2 independent lists we esti­mated the population size and the 95% confidence intervals. Results: The estimated population of children who were blind in WA was calculated to be 110 (95% CI 81 to 139). This represents a prevalence of 0.02% of the population aged less than 18 years in 2009. Conclusions: There are few reliable data on the number of children who are blind. By using two overlapping and independent lists we have obtained an accurate estimate of the population size, consistent with published World Health Organization estimates. Less than half of the children who were legally blind were registered to receive rehabilitation and support services from the state provider. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43085 10.1111/ceo.12004 Wiley-Blackwell restricted
spellingShingle blindness
children
capture and recapture
Crewe, Julie
Morlet, Nigel
Lam, G.
Clark, Antony
Spilsbury, Katrina
Mukhtar, Syed Aqif
Morgan, W.
Crowley, Margaret
Semmens, James
Prevalence of blindness in children
title Prevalence of blindness in children
title_full Prevalence of blindness in children
title_fullStr Prevalence of blindness in children
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence of blindness in children
title_short Prevalence of blindness in children
title_sort prevalence of blindness in children
topic blindness
children
capture and recapture
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43085