Epidemiological study of refractive errors, amblyopia risk factors and low vision in children in Flanders

Amblyopia (‘lazy eye’) is an eye disorder with reduced vision due to absence of visual stimuli early in life, despite a structurally normal eye. With a prevalence of 2.90 to 3.67%, it is the most common eye disease in children under the age of 12 year in Europe. Timely detection of amblyopia risk factors (ARF) and treatment can restore visual acuity. This treatment is only effective under the age of 8 years. Since 2013 the Flemish governmental agency ‘Kind en Gezin’ yearly performs around 100 000 automatic eye screenings, covering almost 85% of the children born in het Flemish Region, in order to detect ARF in children younger than 3 years. During the years valuable information has been collected for epidemiological research about distribution and determinants of ARF and other refractive errors (like myopia). Data on visually impaired children attending schools for the blind will complement this research. In addition, the GoCheck Kids® smartphone photoscreening application (Gobiquity Mobile Health, USA) used by ‘Kind en Gezin’ is not validated for young children (<3y) in the current context, and scientific consensus regarding ARF screening on such a young age is missing. Our aim is to validate the new GoCheck Kids application as automatic eye screener for preschool children (<3y) at ‘Kind en Gezin’, and evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the ARF screening program by comparing our data with CLB (centrum voor leerlingenbegeleiding) (visual) outcome in school children.