[Apropos of preventive ophthalmologic interventions in the child population of compulsory school age. Authors'...

The results are reported of work carried out during the last five years by the Center of Social Ophthalmology, director Prof. G. Scuderi, which is part of the II Division of the Ophthalmologic Clinic of Rome University "La Sapienza" with the object of trying out together with territorial units a model of preventive intervention acting as a filter for specialized university facilities. In other words, already existing facilities and medical personnel were to be used and trained for specific methods and techniques. From 1985 through 1990, 787 children selected by ophthalmologic screening by school doctors among the compulsory school population of the RM 3 and 5 districts were seen and submitted to periodic checks. This cohort included children aged 5 to 14 without significant differences in sex distribution and with prevalence of the 8 to 10 year olds. Each subject was submitted to complete eye examination including refractometry and orthoptics, color vision, biomicroscopic and ophthalmoscopic examination. The principal findings show that about 36% of subjects examined have a natural vision of 11/10 while the high percentage of ametropia observed was mainly represented by astigmatism and hypermetropy, albeit of minor intensity. Strabismus was found in 2.79% and implied marked visual deficit that was often refractory to any type of treatment. In addition, the prevalence was determined of other abnormalities concerning eye motility, color vision and pathologies involving anterior segment and eyeground. In their conclusion, the authors stress the rarity of organic ocular pathology in children (mostly represented by inflammatory changes of the adnexes and conjunctiva) whereas amblyopia was one of the main causes of visual deficit in children. They stress the importance of early therapeutic intervention in order to allow complete visual rehabilitation. The results of the clinical model for prevention were excellent so that it can even be proposed for large scale prevention of amblyopia.