Background: To determine the prevalence, causes and subtypes of amblyopia among children attending pediatric ophthalmology clinic of Eye Foundation Hospital (EFH) and Deseret Eye Centre (DEC) in Ikeja, Lagos. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study, among newly diagnosed and follow up patients of pediatric age group attending the pediatric ophthalmology clinics of Eye Foundation Hospital (EFH) and Deseret Eye Centre (DEC) in Ikeja, Lagos between 15th of November 2014 and 15th of May 2015. Data on socio-demographics, ocular history and ocular examination was collected. Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed. Values of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Findings: A total of 441 children (355 patients from EFH and 86 from DEC) aged 9.4 ± 3.9SD years (range 3 – 17 years) were interviewed and examined. There were slightly more female children 237 (53.7%) with a male to female ratio of 1:1.2. The prevalence of amblyopia in this study was 12.9%. The most common type of amblyopia was ametropic amblyopia (n=18, 4.1%) followed by anisometric (n=10, 2.3%) and sensory deprivation amblyopia (n=10, 2.3%). Strabismic amblyopia was found to be predominant among children less than 5years (n=5, 8.8%). Conclusion: The prevalence rate of amblyopia in this study is high with ametropic amblyopia as the commonest subtype. Early vision screening, diagnosis and treatment will reduce the attendant consequence of socioeconomic burden following visual impairment in this vulnerable sub-section of Nigerian populace.
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The Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research is a bi-monthly multidisciplinary medical journal.