Study: pediatric amblyopia exam unreliable

Fixation preference testing in infants and toddlers may not be reliable in detecting amblyopia, according to a study published in the October Opthalmology.

Researchers studied 1,435 children ages 30 to 71 months who udnerwent fixation preference testing and HOTV eye exams. Among the 53 children with amblyopia with at laest two line differences in HOTV testing, 46 were graded as "normal" or "likely normal" in fixation preference testing.

In addition, 13 out of 487 children 30 to 47 months old had at least two lines of difference in HOTV testing; among these, all were graded as "normal." Fixation preference sensitivity improved from 0% to 25% among children with three lines of difference in HOTV testing.

The researchers pointed out that it was not possible to determine if fixation preference testing was useful for management of children with strabismus.