Causes of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Early Childhood at a Low Vision Service in Mexico City: A 15-year Review.

Purpose: To evaluate the causes of blindness and visual impairment in children aged 0-7 years attending a Low Vision Centre in Mexico City, Mexico.

Methods

Clinical records for patients aged 0-7 years attending the Centre from 2001 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Causes of blindness and visual impairment, affected anatomy, and suspected time period of insult were recorded.

Results

1487 patients were included, 45.9% girls and 54.1% boys. Mean age of presentation was 39 months (SD 27.9 months). 36.0% had associated co-morbidities in addition to their ophthalmic pathology. 39.7% presented with developmental or psychomotor delay. Leading diagnoses were Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) (19.6%), optic nerve atrophy (11.5%), and congenital cataract (9.5%). The most affected anatomical regions were retina (33.8%), optic nerve (16.6%), and lens (10.5%). Half of all cases (50.9%) had insults in the prenatal period. Children with developmental delay were more likely to present before the age of one. There is a significant difference in risk of delayed presentation according to diagnosis. Only 13.5% of children with optic nerve atrophy presented to the Centre before the age of one, compared to 28.4% of children with ROP and 23.4% of children with cataract.

Conclusion

The most common diagnoses for blindness and visual impairment among children were ROP, optic nerve atrophy, and congenital cataract. Late presentation to the Centre was common. There were significant differences in risk of delayed presentation depending on diagnosis. Co-existing systemic conditions and developmental and psychomotor delay were also common among patients attending the Centre.