Abstract
BackgroundStrabismus, also known as squint, is an ocular disorder in which the eyes do not align properly with each other when looking at an object. The estimated global prevalence of strabismus among children is between 1.3% and 5.7%. This study aimed to assess the various types of strabismus among pediatric patients in Jeddah, in the western region of Saudi Arabia.MethodsThe medical records of 281 patients with strabismus aged ≤18 years, who presented to the pediatric ophthalmology clinic in King Abdulaziz University Hospital between 2010 and 2019, were retrospectively reviewed. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). A p-value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant.ResultsOut of the 281 patients, 141 were (50.2%) female. The average age of the patients was 9.50 ± 4.24 years. The most common type of strabismus was esotropia (177 [63%] patients), followed by exotropia (96 [34.2%] patients), hypertropia (10 [3.6%] patients), and dissociated vertical deviation (four [1.4%] patients). Two-hundred thirty-one (82.8%) patients had bilateral strabismus. A total of 178 patients (63.3%) had no associated conditions with strabismus, whereas 103 (36.7%) had an associated condition. A significant relationship was observed between esotropia and prematurity (p = 0.024).ConclusionEsotropia was the most common type of strabismus among the patients, followed by exotropia. The results of this study showed that males were equally affected as females. We also found a significant relationship between esotropia and prematurity. Implementation of a compulsory nationwide pediatric ophthalmic screening program for children aged one, three, and five years is recommended to enable timely diagnosis of strabismus and any other refractive errors.
Highlights
Strabismus, commonly referred to as squint, cross-eyes, walleyes, wandering eyes, or deviating eyes [1], is an ocular condition characterized by misalignment of the eyes when viewing an object; this misalignment may be continuous or intermittent [2]
No significant association was observed between sex and prevalence of strabismus
A significant association was observed between esotropia and prematurity
Summary
Strabismus, commonly referred to as squint, cross-eyes, walleyes, wandering eyes, or deviating eyes [1], is an ocular condition characterized by misalignment of the eyes when viewing an object; this misalignment may be continuous or intermittent [2]. An infant with strabismus may stop using the impaired eye, resulting in a visual impairment termed as amblyopia, which may become permanent if not treated early. Children with strabismus have a reduced vision-related quality of life in comparison to children with normal vision. Strabismus is associated with various risk factors such as low gestational age, reduced birth weight, family history of squint [7], neuromuscular disorders, maternal smoking during pregnancy, cataracts, head injuries, tumors of the brain or eyes, and systemic conditions that have ocular manifestations [1]. Strabismus, known as squint, is an ocular disorder in which the eyes do not align properly with each other when looking at an object. This study aimed to assess the various types of strabismus among pediatric patients in Jeddah, in the western region of Saudi Arabia
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