Gender differences and delay in presentation of childhood squint.

OBJECTIVE To assess gender differences and delay in presentation of childhood squint in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS It was a series of children presenting with squint at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. We retrospectively studied the cases presenting between February 2000 and July 2007. RESULTS A total of 107 children with squint were seen. Of these, 55 (52.4%) were girls. A statistically significant difference was observed between the mean age at presentation (+/- SD) of boys and girls (3 years and 5 months vs 4 years and 5 months p: < 0.05). Girls had a greater mean (SD) and median (range) delay in squint presentation than had boys (2 year 4 months +/- 3 years vs 3 years +/- 2 year 8 months) and 2 year 3 months (1 month to 12 years) vs 1 year 3 months (1 month to 14 years), respectively. Overall amblyopia was present in 25.3% (23/91) children. Girls also had a higher burden of amblyopia compared with their male counterparts though the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.09). CONCLUSION There was a significant gender difference in age at presentation of childhood squint in our study. Further research is recommended to explore the reasons for this.