Biomedical subjects

Ira Krumholtz

Publications and source records attributed to Ira Krumholtz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

An analysis of high myopia in a pediatric population less than 10 years of age.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to document a comprehensive clinical profile-including the prevalence of amblyopia, strabismus, and anisometropia-of a pediatric population less than 10 years of age who manifested 6.00 diopters or more of myopia. METHOD: A retrospective record review was performed on all pediatric patients less than 10 years of age, examined at the State University of New York (SUNY) State College of Optometry between 1998 and 2001, and with a spherical equivalent of 6.00 diopters or more of myopia. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-eight patients met the criteria. Amblyopia or reduced corrected visual acuity was present in 75.8% of the patients. Strabismus was present in 31.5% of the patients, with essentially equal numbers of esotropes and exotropes. Anisometropia was present in 35.4% of the patients. One hundred forty-five patients had high myopia in the absence of significant ocular or systemic compromising conditions. In this sample of 145, strabismus or anisometropia was an etiology for amblyopia. There was a greater prevalence of bilateral high myopia (64.8%) than unilateral high myopia. Anisometropia was present in 10.6% of the bilateral high myopes, and 78.4% of the unilateral high myopes. CONCLUSION: Children less than 10 years of age with high myopia have a high risk of having amblyopia, strabismus, and anisometropia.

Amblyopia↗

PubMed2004

Educating the educators: increasing grade-school teachers' ability to detect vision problems.

BACKGROUND: The State University of New York College of Optometry/University Optometric Center conducts vision screenings in various public schools in New York City. A study was devised to determine whether teachers' abilities to detect vision problems in their students could be enhanced. METHODS: Students of two different grade schools were screened, in 1998-1999 and again two years later. In 1998-1999, the week before each group of students was to be screened, teachers were asked to indicate which children were felt to have vision problems. In 2000-2001, prior to the screenings, a lecture on vision and its relationship to learning was given to the same teachers who had responded two years earlier, and handouts and brochures delineating vision problems were also given to each teacher. A comparison was then made of the teachers' ability to detect vision problems before and after the teacher education. RESULTS: In the first year, 111 of 377 of children screened (29%) were referred. Teachers correctly identified 39% of the acuity failures and 29% of the functional failures. Two years later, a total of 31% of children were referred. The same teachers correctly identified 68% of the acuity failures and 67% of the functional failures. CONCLUSIONS: There was a statistically significant increase in the ability of teachers to correctly identify children with learning problems based on education. Both the accuracy of identifying children with acuity problems, as well as identifying children with functional visual problems, increased. Based on these results, it is recommended that an in-service lecture be given to school teachers to heighten their awareness of vision problems that may impact learning performance.

Child↗

PubMed2002

Maintenance of improvement gains in refractive amblyopia: a comparison of treatment modalities.

BACKGROUND: In June of 1999, an initial study reported on the effect of differing treatment modalities in improving visual acuity and stereoacuity in patients with unilateral refractive amblyopia. This study reports on the patients' visual maintenance of acuity gains for each specified treatment modality. Patients were re-evaluated over a 1- to 2-year period after cessation of treatment. METHODS: Records of patients who participated in the initial study were retrospectively reviewed 1 to 2 years after cessation of therapy to determine whether visual acuity gains were maintained. RESULTS: Patients were divided according to treatment modalities. Results for the three patient groups were as follows: 50% of patients with optical correction alone maintained visual acuity improvement; 60% of patients with optical correction and occlusion maintained visual acuity gains; and 100% of patients with optical correction, occlusion, and vision therapy had maintained visual acuity gains. Of the three age groups--4 years to 6 years, 11 months; 7 years to 9 years, 11 months; and 10 to 14 years--the oldest age group maintained the highest percentage of visual acuity gains. CONCLUSIONS: In our sample, at least 50% of the unilateral anisometropic amblyopic patients, who initially experienced visual acuity gains after treatment (regardless of treatment modality or age) maintained those acuity gains at 1- to 2-year followup. One hundred percent of those patients who received the vision therapy modality of treatment retained the improvement at followup-a statistically significant difference when compared with the other two groups.

Amblyopia↗