Can photoscreening effectively detect amblyogenic risk factors in children with neurodevelopmental disability?

Purpose: To analyze whether photoscreening can effectively detect amblyogenic risk factors in children with neurodevelopmental disability. Methods: A prospective study of 52 children attending a special school for children with neurodevelopmental disability from December 2017 to May 2018. All were initially tested with a photoscreening device: Welch Allyn® Spot® Vision Screener: model VS100 (Spot®) and further evaluated at a later date by a pediatric ophthalmologist, with a complete ocular evaluation including squint assessment, cycloplegic retinoscopy, and dilated fundus examination. The key parameters studied were demographic features, type of neurodevelopmental disability, refraction, ocular alignment, media clarity, any other ocular morbidity, and time taken for examination. The presence of amblyogenic risk factors (ARF) was analyzed as per the 2013 guidelines of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Results: The mean age was 10.5 years (range: 1–17.5 years). Males (73.1%) outnumbered females (26.9%). The most common neurodevelopmental disability was cerebral palsy. Simple myopic astigmatism was the most common type of refractive error. Presence of ARF in our study was 73.1%. The sensitivity and specificity of photoscreening in detecting ARF were 96.5% and 63.61%, respectively, with a positive predictive value of 80% and negative predictive value of 92.31%. The predictive ability of photoscreening was 79.9% as per the area under curve. The average time taken for photoscreening was less than 60 s. Conclusion: Photoscreening can detect ARF with high sensitivity and reasonable specificity and is a handy, useful, and time?saving tool in screening children with neurodevelopmental disability.

A Nutritional Study of Tube-fed Patients with Severe Neurodevelopmental Disability / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess the nutritional states and investigate the energy intake of tube-fed patients with severe neurodevelopmental disability. METHODS: Eighty six tube-fed patients with severe neurodevelopmental disability were studied. Heights were measured by flexible scale segmentally. Nutritional parameters of weight, triceps skin- fold thickness and mid-arm circumference were also measured. Total caloric intakes through the tube were calculated. RESULTS: The anthropometric results showed that nutritional states of tube-fed patients with severe neurodevelopmental disability were poor. The mean daily caloric intake was much less than daily energy requirement (mean=45.2% of requirement). The caloric intake was 7.2 kcal/height (cm), 57.0 kcal/weight (kg). Height was more related with caloric intake (r=0.476) than weight (r=0.263). CONCLUSION: These results provide that tube-fed patients with severe neurodevelopmental disability were growth retarded and their energy intakes were much less than daily energy requirements. The preliminary evidence was that they need adequate nutritional supply.