J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2020 Jan;61(1):86-91. 10.3341/jkos.2020.61.1.86.

Risk Factors Associated with the Recurrence of Amblyopia after Successful Treatment

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Ophthalmology, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea. eyelovehyun@hanmail.net

Abstract

PURPOSE
We sought factors affecting amblyopia recurrence after successful treatment.
METHODS
We included 117 patients with amblyopia. Patients were divided into recurrence and non-recurrence groups. We analyzed sex, age, amblyopia type, treatment duration, visual acuity, and binocular status.
RESULTS
Of the 117 patients, 25 (21.4%) experienced recurrences. In that group, 60.0% of patients (compared to 14.1% of the no-recurrence group) exhibited high-frequency strabismus (p < 0.001). The recurrence group were younger than the no-recurrence group at both the beginning and end of treatment (p < 0.05). None of visual acuity at treatment commencement or end, stereoacuity, or suppression affected amblyopia recurrence.
CONCLUSIONS
Recurrent amblyopia is frequent after initial successful treatment if the patient exhibits strabismus or is young.

Keyword

Amblyopia; Recurrence; Risk factors

MeSH Terms

Amblyopia*
Humans
Recurrence*
Risk Factors*
Strabismus
Telescopes
Visual Acuity

Figure

  • Figure 1 Comparison of recurrence patients according to the patient age. (A) Higher recurrence rate was observed in younger patients at start of treatment (p = 0.002*). (B) Higher recurrence rate was observed in younger patients at the end of treatment (p = 0.006*). *p-values by linear by linear association test.


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