Masalah penglihatan boleh memberi impak yang serius terhadap perkembangan sosial dan mental kanak-kanak. Oleh itu, pengesanan masalah ini di peringkat awal adalah amat penting bagi memastikan prognosis yang lebih baik. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti penyebab masalah penglihatan di kalangan kanak-kanak Prasekolah. Seramai 479 orang kanak-kanak tadika yang berumur 4-6 ± 0.69 tahun (min=5.3 tahun) di Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia telah dipilih secara rawak. Mereka menjalani ujian akuiti visual, ujian katup, ujian Hirschberg, pemeriksaan eksternal okular dan oftalmoskopi. Kanak-kanak yang gagal saringan penglihatan telah dirujuk untuk pemeriksaan lanjutan. 52% kanakkanak terdiri daripada lelaki dan selebihnya adalah kanak-kanak perempuan. Melayu merupakan kumpulan bangsa terbesar (59.9%), diikuti Cina (30.1%), India (9.6%) dan lain-lain (0.4%). Daripada 43 orang yang gagal saringan penglihatan, 32 (6.7% dari kumpulan subjek asal) orang disahkan mempunyai masalah penglihatan. Penyebab utama masalah penglihatan di kalangan kanak-kanak Prasekolah dalam kajian ini ialah ralat refraksi (4.8% dari keseluruhan subjek kajian) diikuti dengan ambliopia (1.0%), strabismus (1.0%) dan keabnormalan okular (0.8%). Maka, saringan penglihatan di kalangan kanak-kanak Prasekolah adalah amat penting untuk dilaksanakan kerana ia dapat mengesan masalah penglihatan di peringkat awal.
Amblyopia is one of the most common causes of visual defi cit in children. Presently, in the Ministry of Health Malaysia hospitals, there is no documented data on the characteristic and profi le of amblyopia cases. This study was conducted to scribe the profile of new amblyopia cases seen by optometrists at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Hospitals. This study was a retrospective and multicenter study including all MOH hospitals with optometry clinics. Clinical record data of amblyopic patients aged 3 to 17 years old who were newly diagnosed between 1st August 2010 to 31st January 2011 and who fulfi lled the inclusion criteria were obtained. Data collected included demography, systemic history, ocular history and optometric findings and diagnosis. Thirty eight MOH hospitals participated and a total of 301 patients were diagnosed with functional amblyopia within the study period. Mean age for these amblyopic patients was 7.70 + 0.16 years old. Boys were the predominant gender (57.1%) and Malay preceded the other races with a 65.4% occurrence. Mild amblyopia was found in 51.5% of the patients, 31.6% were with moderate amblyopia and only 16.9% of patients were severe amblyopia. The underlying amblyogenic causes assessed were ametropia (61.5%), anisometropia (25.2%), strabismus (9.3%) and stimulus deprivation (4.0%). Refractive error was discovered as the most common cause of amblyopia in this study. It is crucial for optometrists to detect this type of visual impairment and undertake an early optometric intervention.
Study site: multicenter study including all MOH hospital