Journal of the American Optometric Association最新文献

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the testability of the "Co or Vision Testing Made Easy" color vision test, marketed as a screening test for young children, in a population of individuals with mental retardation. The test uses simple geometric figures that are easily identified. Previously, the test has demonstrated validity as a measure of color deficiency.

Methods: The test was presented to Special Olympic athletes, who are individuals with mental retardation or significant developmental delay, at four sites: the 1997 World Winter Games in Toronto, Canada; the Texas Summer Games in Houston, Texas; the Massachusetts Summer Games in Boston, Massachusetts; and Regional European Swim Competition in Seville, Spain. The criteria for passing was 8 correct responses on the first trial or 9 of 9 on the second attempt.

Results: Testability in Toronto, Canada; Houston, Texas; and Seville, Spain was high--95.5%, 98.7%, and 95.7%, respectively. Testability, however, dropped to 78.8% during the Boston, Massachusetts screening. There was no apparent difference in the testing environment that would account for the difference. The overall rate of testability was 93.2% for the 1078 athletes screened. The frequency of males identified as color deficient was similar to that expected in the general population; only two females (in Spain) failed the color vision screening.

Conclusions: The "Color Vision Testing Made Easy" color vision test was successfully completed by a very high percentage of Special Olympics athletes. These results suggest that this test is useful in screening this population for color deficiencies, and that the prevalence of color vision deficiencies is approximately the same in individuals with mental retardation as in the general population.

Background: Penetrating keratoplasty places a patient at risk for wound rupture from blunt trauma because the graft-host interface remains weakened for years after the surgery. Violent environments, contact sports, and strenuous activity put patients with compromised corneal structural integrity at high risk of traumatic injury.

Case report: This case report presents a 42-year-old penetrating keratoplasty patient with a history of homelessness, polysubstance abuse, and domestic violence. This patient experienced a ruptured globe at the graft-host junction secondary to a direct blow by a fist, which extruded the intraocular lens from the eye. After emergency wound closure, the graft continued to degrade until bullous keratopathy developed. With little visual recovery potential for this graft, a Gunderson conjunctival flap procedure was implemented to decrease chronic ocular pain.

Conclusions: After penetrating keratoplasty, patients should be periodically reminded of the susceptibility of the graft wound to injury from high-risk activity and violence. Constant use of protective eyewear should be recommended to corneal transplant recipients.

Background: A convergent (eso) shift in near phoria associated with the onset of myopia has been reported.

Methods: Data from two Midwestern United States optometry practices were used to assess whether the near phoria shifted back in the divergent (exo) direction after the cessation of childhood myopia progression. Data were collected for myopic children who had three or more examinations before the age of 15 years and at least one examination after the age of 17 years.

Results: Refractive error data were used to calculate an index of the age of cessation of childhood myopia progression. The phoria at the first examination after the cessation age was designated as the baseline and was normalized to zero. For all previous and subsequent examinations, the changes in phoria with respect to the baseline phoria were calculated. The phoria at the examination just after the cessation age was significantly more divergent than those at the first, third, and fourth examinations prior to the cessation age (1.1, 1.4, and 1.7 prism diopters, respectively). The third visit after the cessation age was 1.8 prism diopters more divergent than the first visit after the cessation age. Thus, these data showed an exo shift in near phoria after the cessation of childhood myopia progression.

Background: Glaucomatocyclitic Crisis (AKA Posner-Schlossman syndrome) is a syndrome that affects patients between the ages of 20 and 50 years. It is characterized by a mild recurrent anterior uveitis associated with an out-of-proportion intraocular pressure spike in the same eye. The cause is unclear, but many theories exist. Some researchers have tried to connect it with primary open-angle glaucoma.

Case report: A review of the record of a 41-year-old Hispanic woman with Posner-Schlossman syndrome is discussed. She sought treatment on multiple occasions with symptoms of mild pain, photophobia, and a blurry left eye. Examination revealed mild anterior chamber reaction and an intraocular pressure (IOP) spike in the same eye. She was treated with topical anti-inflammatory and pressure-lowering agents. Each individual flare-up was treated successfully, but the patient began to show equivocal signs of primary open-angle glaucoma (PDAG). She is currently treated prophylactically for POAG with a beta-blocker. No etiologic factor was identified in this patient. The differential diagnosis is straight-forward and the treatment is general uveitic therapy--minus cycloplegics--combined with an IOP-lowering drop.

Conclusion: This is an interesting and relatively rare uveitic condition. The list of differential diagnoses is long, as is the theorized etiologies; however, clinically the condition is relatively quickly identifiable by the presence (and absence) of signs and symptoms.

The 45,000-plus school nurses in the U.S. have an astonishing array of responsibilities, and serve as important gatekeepers to the health care of millions of children. By building relationships with local school nurses, doctors of optometry can play an important part in improving children's vision care, and build their practices as well. We take a look at the challenges school nurses face, and an AOA program designed to reach out to them and improve the quality of vision screenings.

Background: Occurrence of refractive errors and uncorrected visual acuity impairment among self-selected, indigent, medically underserved Hispanic, white, and black adults examined by the staff of the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic (MEC) are described in this study and compared to population-based studies.

Methods: The study sample consisted of all 2,970 Hispanic, 1,228 white, and 1,028 black participants, for a total of 5,226 self-selected adults, ages 25 to 74 years, who received vision screenings and eye examinations by the staff of the UCLA MEC from 1987 to 1997. Tests consisted of visual acuity, refractive error, intraocular pressure, retinoscopy, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, direct ophthalmoscopic examination, and indirect ophthalmoloscopy with pupillary dilation. Levels of visual acuity impairment were defined as mild (20/50-20/80), moderate (20/100), or severe (20/200 or worse) in either eye.

Results: Self-selected whites in this study had higher rates of astigmatism, anisometropia, and hyperopia, while myopia was higher among self-selected blacks. Myopia and hyperopia occurred more frequently among younger age groups for all ethnic groups. Whites had a higher occurrence of mild, moderate, and severe visual acuity impairment, as compared with Hispanics and blacks.

Conclusions: Both refractive errors and impaired visual acuity of this self-selected sample are similar to those of adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the Baltimore Eye Survey. The data presented in this study provide a crude estimate of the occurrence of refractive errors and impaired visual acuity among self-selected, medically underserved, indigent Hispanic, white, and black adults in the Los Angeles area.