Cerebral Visual Impairment is a Major Cause of Profound Visual Impairment in Children Aged Less Than 3 Years: A Study from Tertiary Eye Care Center in South India

Overview

Journal Indian J Ophthalmol

Specialty Ophthalmology

Date 2019 Sep 25

PMID 31546477

Citations 11

Authors

Niranjan K Pehere

Asa Narasaiah

Gordon N Dutton

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate causes for profound visual impairment in children ≤3 years of age at a tertiary eye care center in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted for all the children (≤3 years) who attended the pediatric ophthalmology service between January 2012 and February 2017.

Results: A total of 428 severely visually impaired children aged ≤3 years were seen during the study period: 264 (62%) of them were boys and I64 (38%) were girls. The average age at presentation was 14.02 months. The causes of visual impairment were cerebral visual impairment (CVI) 142 (33%), a combination of CVI and ocular visual impairment (OVI) 48 (11%), and OVI only 236 (56%), which included congenital cataract 56 (13.1%), retinopathy of prematurity 52 (I2.6%), optic atrophy 17 (4.5%), congenital nystagmus (4.4%), congenital globe anomalies 2I (5.2%), and high refractive errors - 10 (2.8%). Delays in different areas of development were seen in 103 out of 142 children with CVI (72.5%), which included motor delay 53 (51.5%), cognitive delay 15 (14.6%), speech delay in 3 (2.9%), and delay in multiple areas of development (like combination of motor, cognitive, and speech delay) in 32 (31.1%).

Conclusion: In children under 3 years of age, CVI is a major cause of profound visual impairment in our area and the majority of them manifest delay in several areas of development.

Citing Articles

Sensory substitution and augmentation techniques in cerebral visual impairment: a discussion of lived experiences.

Duesing S, Lane-Karnas K, Duesing S, Lane-Karnas M, Y N, Chandna A Front Hum Neurosci. 2025; 19:1510771.

PMID: 39996023 PMC: 11847843. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1510771.

Method for assessing visual saliency in children with cerebral/cortical visual impairment using generative artificial intelligence.

Matsunaga K, Avramidis K, Borchert M, Narayanan S, Chang M Front Hum Neurosci. 2025; 18:1506286.

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Correlation of optic nerve on magnetic resonance imaging with visual acuity in children with cerebral visual impairment.

Samvedya V, Smitha K, Mahesh K, Virupaxi H Oman J Ophthalmol. 2024; 17(3):371-375.

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Diagnosis and Care of Children With Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment: Clinical Report.

Lehman S, Yin L, Chang M Pediatrics. 2024; 154(6).

PMID: 39558730 PMC: 11688168. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-068465.

Commentary: Exploring 'vision nanny,' a digital application for intervention for children with Cortical/Cerebral Visual Impairment.

Christy B, Potharaju P, Manohar V, Jayaraman D Indian J Ophthalmol. 2024; 72(11):1666-1667.

PMID: 39462926 PMC: 11668198. DOI: 10.4103/IJO.IJO_1028_23.

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