Effect of cycloplegia on the refractive status of children

Background: The American Optometric Association (AOA), in its 2017 Recommendation for Clinical Practice, proposed cycloplegic testing when initially screening preschool children to detect potential vision-impairing diseases such as strabismus, amblyopia and anisometropia. Aim: This study aims to de...

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Main Authors: Ehab Tharwat, Mohamed Hassanein, Ezzeldin R. Ezzeldin, Haitham B. Soliman, Basheer Eltantawy, Akram F. Elgazzar, Walid S. Abdella, Amr M.E. Abdelkader
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2024-10-01
Series:African Vision and Eye Health
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Online Access:https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/916
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Summary:Background: The American Optometric Association (AOA), in its 2017 Recommendation for Clinical Practice, proposed cycloplegic testing when initially screening preschool children to detect potential vision-impairing diseases such as strabismus, amblyopia and anisometropia. Aim: This study aims to detect the effect of cycloplegia on the measurement of refractive errors in children. Setting: Ophthalmology department, Al-Azhar University, Egypt. Methods: This retrospective interventional study included 388 children with refractive error attending our outpatient clinic in the ophthalmology department, at Al-Azhar University between January 2020 and April 2022. Cycloplegia was induced in each child with topical eye drops of 1% cyclopentolate instilled two times at 5-min intervals. The same optometrist repeated an auto-refraction 30 min after the last eye drop was applied. Results: We compared the pre- and post-cycloplegic refractions and found that the sphere, spherical equivalence and cylinder had significant hypermetropic shift after cycloplegia (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Cycloplegic refractions are more accurate and eliminate the risk of inaccurate refractive error findings, which is essential when managing children. Contribution: This article provides valuable insight, which may inform public health policy.
ISSN:2413-3183
2410-1516