News reports from the conference

Follow-up eye care a major concern in Canadian Aboriginal pediatric population

One of the first Canadian studies to compare the ocular profile of First Nations and Métis children with that of the general pediatric population showed that a quarter of all Aboriginal patients were lost to follow-up or missed appointments.

The study by researchers from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon also documented some significant differences in the types of eye problems seen in the Aboriginal group compared with the non-Aboriginal group.

Nishant Sharma, who presented the research on behalf of colleagues Drs. Joel Post, Punam Pahwa and Vasudha Erraguntla, said that, while studies have documented higher rates of astigmatism and myopia among Aboriginal populations in the United States, similar data are lacking in Canada.

This comparative retrospective case series compared the charts of 104 First Nations and Métis children (mean age 6.48 years) who presented to the Eye Care Centre in Saskatoon with those of a similar number of non-Aboriginal patients (mean age 6.69 years).

A statistically significant higher incidence of myopia was documented in the Aboriginal group (p = 0.002) but no significant differences were seen between the two groups in the number of children presenting with amblyopia or strabismus. While a similar number of patients in each group presented with clinically significant astigmatism, the dioptric power was higher in the Aboriginal patients (p = 0.0001).

The study also found that, in 25% of cases, the patients in the Aboriginal group missed follow-up appointments or were lost to follow-up. Sharma said this points to the need for better education and awareness of eye care in this population. He said the findings also show the need for close monitoring of the vision of Aboriginal children.

In their written abstract, the research team also concluded that "the striking number of patients who had failed to attend follow-up appointments…leads us to conclude that borderline refractive errors may be corrected in the first visit with the knowledge that this may be their only ocular examination for many years."