Aleah Miller
Pronouns: She/Her
Research Mentor(s): Olivia Killeen
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Department of Ophthalmology / Medicine
Program: CG
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Authors:
Abstract
Professional organizations recommend 3-5-year-old children have their vision tested in a primary care setting every year to catch vision concerns early and prevent permanent vision loss. Preliminary data suggested that many children do not receive primary care vision screening. However, in the past 15 years, very little research has been conducted on this topic. We aimed to assess vision screening across an academic health system and understand the determinants of vision screening. We reviewed medical records of 3-5-year-old well-child visits at family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine/pediatrics clinics at the University of Michigan in Spring 2022. Variables collected included patient age, gender, race, and ethnicity and clinic variables collected include site, physician specialty, and whether a vision screening was conducted. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between patient and clinic variables and vision screening. We reviewed 850 well-child visits from 17 clinics. The mean patient age was 3.9±0.8 years, 52.5% were male, 64.1% were White, and 53.0% were seen by pediatricians. Less than half (45.5%) received vision screening. Rates of vision screening ranged from 90% at the highest-performing clinic to 4.0% at the lowest-performing clinic. White children had 2x the odds of receiving vision screening compared to Black children (odds ratio 2.1, 95% CI 1.6-5.0). Children presenting to pediatricians had greater odds of vision screening than children presenting to family physicians (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.9-4.2) and older children had greater odds of vision screening than younger children (OR increased 4.54 for each year of age, 95% CI 4.4-7.0). Less than half of children received vision screening at 3-5-year-old well-child visits at the University of Michigan. Vision screening was associated with race, physician specialty, and age. Qualitative studies are needed to understand the determinants of vision screening. Future work will center on improving vision screening for all children.
