Risk of Pediatric Eye Disease in Children with Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Disorders in the United States.
Neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders linked to higher risk of childhood strabismus
Risk of Pediatric Eye Disease in Children with Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Disorders in the United States.
To evaluate the association of neurodevelopmental disorders (neurodevelopmental disorders) and behavioral disorders with amblyopia, myopia, strabismus, and strabismus surgery rates.
Children aged ≤18 years with and without neurodevelopmental disorders or behavioral disorders identified in a nationwide multicenter federated electronic health record network.
kids with these conditions are more likely to develop strabismus
The primary analysis included 1,429,440 children with neurodevelopmental disorders or behavioral disorders and 3,522,241 controls, yielding 1,156,503 matched pairs.
Baseline characteristics were well-balanced after matching.
Increased risk was also observed across clinically relevant disease subtypes, individual disorders, and multiple follow-up intervals (all P < 0.001).
Neurodevelopmental disorders and behavioral disorders were associated with increased risk of amblyopia, myopia, and strabismus across multiple follow-up intervals, disease subtypes, and individual disorders.
Pediatric eye disease may represent an important component of the overall health burden in this population.
These findings support heightened clinical awareness and developmentally appropriate vision screening strategies in children with neurodevelopmental disorders or behavioral disorders.
Lower rates of strabismus surgery in this population warrant further investigation.