Causes of amblyopia in children coming to ophthalmology out patient department Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar.

OBJECTIVE To find the causes of amblyopia in patients 4 to 14 years old attending out patient Ophthalmology department of Khyber teaching Hospital Peshawar. METHODS In this prospective cohort hospital based study 200 children aged 4-14 years were studied over a period of 12 months from December 2005 to November 2006 in outpatient department of Ophthalmology, Khyber Teaching Hospital. Visual acuity was checked with Snellen's and Lea symbols depending on level of cooperation of patient. Cycloplegic refraction and orthoptic assessment was performed on all patients. Amblyopia was classified as strabismic, anisometropic, combined and stimulus deprivation. Treatment consisted of optical correction, patching, atropinization and surgery. RESULTS Out of 200 patients 126 (63%) were male and 74 (37%) were female, 114 (57%) were in age group 4-9 years while 86 (43%) were between 10-14 years. Strabismic amblyopia was present in 110 (55%), Anisometropic amblyopia in 42 (21%), combined mechanism amblyopia in 32 (16%), ammetropia in 12 (6%) and stimulus deprivation amblyopia in 4 (2%) Binocularity could not be assessed in 16 (8%), was present in 38 (19%) and absent in 148 (73%). CONCLUSION Amblyopia was more common in males than females. Most of the children presented in younger age group of 4-9 years. Strabismic amblyopia was the most common cause of amblyopia. Amblyopia was more common in esotropes than exotropes. Half of the patients had moderate amblyopia, while the remaining were suffering from either mild or severe amblyopia. Binocularity was absent in 73% of the patients