Emmetropisation in normal and strabismic children and the associated changes of anisometropia.

The purpose of this study was to measure whether emmetropisation failed in children who had strabismus irrespective of their refraction in infancy, and to record simultaneous changes in anisometropia. We also report how often hypermetropia increased before these children presented with esotropia. A total of 2920 infants had a cycloplegic retinoscopy at age 5-7 months and again at 42 months or when defective vision was identified. Changes of refraction in 210 children with strabismus are compared with the remaining 2710 who did not. When the spherical equivalent of the fixing eyes was > +2.75 D in infancy, hypermetropia decreased less in both eyes of those who had microtropia (p <.001) and heterotropia (p <.001) than in normal children. When it was < +2.75 D, the spherical and/or cylindrical refraction more often remained outside the 'normal' range in both eyes of those who had microtropia and heterotropia (p <.05). Emmetropisation was deficient in both eyes of at least 80% of these strabismic children irrespective of their refraction in infancy. Furthermore, in the strabismic children, the mean change of refraction was less (p <.05) in their fellow eyes than in their fixing eyes, the difference between the two eyes being on average three times greater than that in those who had normal vision. Thus, anisometropia increased in 53% of those who had strabismus but remained within normal limits (< ca. 0.75 D spherical equivalent) in 94 % of those who did not. 'Abnormal' anisometropia in infancy did not, per se, permanently affect vision because 72% of all those who had it did not have strabismus. Finally, the spherical hypermetropia of fixing eyes increased in only 35% of the children with esotropia - similar to the incidence in those who had a microtropia (p =.36). This does not obviously support the concept that increasing hypermetropia causes accommodation to increase before convergence.

Reduction of astigmatism after infancy in children who did and did not wear glasses and have strabismus.

The purpose of this study was to record and explain the changes in astigmatism as normal and strabismic infants grew. Two-hundred-and-eighty-nine hypermetropic infants were randomly allocated to wear glasses from the age of six months. Changes in astigmatism and in hypermetropia of the horizontal and vertical meridia were compared in those who did and did not wear glasses and have strabismus. Mean astigmatism decreased significantly (p < 0.001) in both eyes of normal and strabismic children, but the 'last' astigmatism was significantly (p < 0.001) larger in both eyes of those who had strabismus. There was a similar progressive decrease of hypermetropia in both meridia of both eyes within each diagnostic group, but with the exception of the vertical meridian of the non-fixating eyes (in which the difference approached statistical significance), this was significantly (p < 0.01) larger in the normal children. The consistent wear of glasses was not associated with change in both meridia of both eyes in the normal children (p < 0.005), but had no significant effect on the changes in astigmatism. Since the changes in the two meridia were proportional to the starting level, hypermetropia decreased more in the meridian which was, initially, the more hypermetropic one, and the difference between them, i.e. astigmatism, tended to disappear whether or not the child eventually had strabismus.

Depression and anxiety in people with inflammatory bowel disease.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether depression or anxiety co-occurs with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) more often than expected by chance, and, if so, whether the mental disorders generally precede or follow the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). DESIGN: Nested case-control studies using a database of linked hospital record abstracts. SETTING: Southern England. MAIN RESULTS: Both depression and anxiety preceded UC significantly more often than would be predicted from the control population's experience. The associations were strongest when the mental conditions were diagnosed shortly before UC, although the association between depression and UC was also significant when depression preceded UC by five or more years. Neither depression nor anxiety occurred before CD more often than expected by chance. However, depression and anxiety were significantly more common after CD; the associations were strongest in the year after the initial record of CD. UC was followed by anxiety, but not by depression, more often than expected by chance and, again, the association was strongest within one year of diagnosis with UC. CONCLUSIONS: The concentration of risk of depression or anxiety one year or less before diagnosis with UC suggests that the two psychiatric disorders might be a consequence of early symptoms of the as yet undiagnosed gastrointestinal condition. The data are also, however, compatible with the hypothesis that the psychiatric disorders could be aetiological factors in some patients with UC. Most of the excess anxiety or depression diagnosed subsequent to diagnosis of IBD occurs during the year after IBD is diagnosed and the probable explanation is that the mental disorders are sequelae of IBD.

Effect of spectacles on changes of spherical hypermetropia in infants who did, and did not, have strabismus.

AIM: To explore why emmetropisation fails in children who have strabismus. METHODS: 289 hypermetropic infants were randomly allocated spectacles and followed. Changes in spherical hypermetropia were compared in those who had strabismus and those who did not. The effect of wearing glasses on these changes was assessed using t tests and regression analysis. RESULTS: Mean spherical hypermetropia decreased in both eyes of "normal" children (p<0.001). The consistent wearing of glasses impeded this process in both eyes (p<0.007). In the children with strabismus, there were no significant changes in either eye, irrespective of treatment (p>0. 05). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast with normal infants, neither eye of those who had strabismus emmetropised, irrespective of whether the incoming vision was clear or blurred. It is suggested that these eyes did not "recognise" the signal of blurred vision, and that they remained long sighted because they were destined to squint. Hence, the children did not squint because they were long sighted, and glasses did not prevent them squinting.

Pre-natal and early life risk factors for childhood onset diabetes mellitus: a record linkage study.

BACKGROUND: Using data from the Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS) we conducted a case-control study to examine pre-natal and early life risk factors for childhood and adolescent onset diabetes mellitus. METHODS: We identified 160 boys and 155 girls born 1965-1986 and admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of diabetes during 1965-1987 in the ORLS area. Up to eight controls were matched to each case on sex, year of birth and hospital or place of birth. We linked the hospital records for each child to all of that child's hospital records and to his or her mother's maternity record. RESULTS: There were no significant associations between subsequent diabetes and birthweight, gestational age, birthweight for gestational age, maternal age and parity. There were increased risks with not breastfeeding (relative risk [RR] = 1.33; 95% CI: 0.76-2.34), and with diabetes recorded in the mother during pregnancy (RR = 5.87; 95% CI : 0.90-38.3), but these were not statistically significant. There was a significantly raised risk with pre-eclampsia or eclampsia during pregnancy (RR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.05-2.10). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-eclampsia may be the result of an immunogenetic incompatibility between mother and fetus, and this early immunological disturbance might be related to incidence of diabetes in later life.

Emmetropisation and accommodation in hypermetropic children before they show signs of squint--a preliminary analysis.

1119 hypermetropic children have been followed from the age of 6 months to 3 1/2 years. Observations are reported on (i) the changes in their refraction and (ii) their accommodation. Children who eventually had either a convergent squint or a microtropia were significantly (i) less likely to have spontaneously reduced their hypermetropia, and (ii) more likely to have problems with their accommodation, than those who had no squint. These abnormalities were demonstrated in both the fixing and the non-fixing eyes. There was no obvious difference between the findings for children who had microtropia and squint. We suggest that there was a basic defect in the function, and/or the development, of the visual systems relating to both fixing and non-fixing eyes of children who had squint or microtropia; and that this defect was present before squint or microtropia were diagnosed. The question of whether this defect had a congenital or an acquired (form vision deprivation) cause is discussed.