Prevalence of Amblyopia in School-Aged Children and Variations by Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in a Multi-Country Refractive Error Study.

Purpose: To estimate the age-, gender-, and ethnicity-specific prevalence of amblyopia in children aged 5 to 15 years using data from the multi-country Refractive Error Study in Children (RESC).

Design: Population-based, cross-sectional study.

Participants: Among 46 260 children aged 5 to 15 years who were enumerated from 8 sites in the RESC study, 39 551 had a detailed ocular examination and a reliable visual acuity (VA) measurement in 1 or both eyes. Information on ethnicity was available for 39 321 of these participants. This study focused on findings from the 39 321 children.

Methods: The examination included VA measurements, evaluation of ocular alignment and refractive error under cycloplegia, and examination of the external eye, anterior segment, media, and fundus.

Main Outcome Measures: The proportion of children aged 5 to 15 years with amblyopia in different ethnic cohorts. Amblyopia was defined as best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of ≤20/40 in either eye, with tropia, anisometropia (≥2 spherical equivalent diopters [D]), or hyperopia (≥+6 spherical equivalent D), after excluding children with fundus or anterior segment abnormalities.

Results: The overall prevalence of amblyopia was 0.74% (95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.83) with significant (P < 0.001) variation across ethnic groups: 1.43% in Hispanic, 0.93% in Chinese, 0.62% in Indian, 0.52% in Malay, 0.35% in Nepali, and 0.28% in African children. Amblyopia was not associated with age or gender. The most common cause of amblyopia was anisometropia.

Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of amblyopia varied with ethnicity and was highest in Hispanic children and lowest in African children. Most cases were unilateral and developed before the age of 5 years. The impact of changes of definitions on prevalence estimates is discussed.