Practical community photoscreening in very young children

OBJECTIVE: Recent US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations on vision screening reported insufficient data to recommend vision screening in children METHODS: A retrospective review of results from the Iowa KidSight database using the MTI PhotoScreener containing results of children screened between May 1, 2000, and April 30, 2011. RESULTS: During the 11 years of the study, 210 695 photoscreens on children were performed at 13 750 sites. In the CONCLUSIONS: No statistically significant difference was found in screening children from 1 to 3 years old compared with screening children >3 years old. These results confirm that early screening, before amblyopia is more pronounced, can reliably detect amblyogenic risk factors in children younger than 3 years of age, and we recommend initiation of photoscreening in children aged 1 year and older.