A quarter of the nearly 1400 children who have been examined by specialists as part of the View for the Future project, carried out in Podlasie, have been diagnosed with various eye defects. This is a lot – the doctors who carry out the research judge.
Future view – is a project aimed at the early detection and treatment of eye diseases in children. It is carried out by the Ophthalmology Clinic with the Strabismus Treatment Center of the University Children’s Teaching Hospital in Białystok. According to the project implementers, such research is rare in Poland.
The project has been going on for a year, so far nearly 1,4 thousand have been tested. children in 17 municipalities. The head of the Pediatric Ophthalmology Clinic with the Zeza Treatment Center, Prof. Alina Bakunowicz-Łazarczyk, defects were found in 26% kids. The most frequent were vision defects such as myopia (100) and hyperopia (111), 59 cases of astigmatism were also detected, 44 children had strabismus, and glaucoma 15. There was also, inter alia, one case of cataracts.
Prof. Bakunowicz-Łazarczyk explains that such a large number of children with myopia is the result of sitting in front of computers from an early age. This accelerates the development of myopia, she emphasized. She added that it is important to quickly detect such a defect so that parents can closely pay attention to, for example, the time that the child spends in front of the computer, that the eyes rest in the meantime, the child has the right glasses selected early and that by proper prophylaxis limit the treatment of the defect.
Prof. also emphasizes that there are many cases of hyperopia, and this may predispose, for example, to the appearance of strabismus. Bakunowicz-Łazarczyk says that the treatment of strabismus requires exercise, sometimes quick surgery, and parents are often unaware that correct vision is, for example, one of the elements important in finding a job in the future when children grow up. He also says that children with undetected hyperopia, e.g. at school age, will have problems such as headaches, recurrent conjunctivitis and fatigue. And the parents do not know that the child has a visual impairment that should be compensated – added prof. Bakunowicz-Łazarczyk.
It sensitizes parents not to ignore signals when a child says that, for example, they cannot see something from the blackboard or that their head hurts. These could be signs of a visual impairment. You have to report for tests immediately – he adds.
The View for the Future project was created because doctors noticed that more and more children with eye diseases – especially from outside large cities – go to doctors too late, and the defects are becoming more and more serious. Doctors emphasize that there are more and more disadvantages, incl. because children are heavily burdened with learning, they often have to look at the so-called near, e.g. in books.
The research will continue throughout 2010. They will cover young patients from another 13 municipalities: Wiżajny, Przerośl, Jeleniewo, Szypliszki, Puńsk, Nowinka, Płaska, Korycin, Grabowo, Jedwabne, Klukowo, Czeremcha, Krasnopol. They are to start in March and last until November. Over a thousand children from these communes, aged 6 months to 7 years old, will be examined, project coordinator Urszula Lisowska from the University Children’s Teaching Hospital in Białystok told PAP.
The Ophthalmology Clinic received nearly 394,5 thousand zlotys for the project. euro. with the so-called Norwegian funds. That’s 75 percent. project values. The remaining money was contributed by the Ministry of Health (15%) and the children’s clinical hospital (10%).
The View for the Future project also includes the purchase of medical equipment for research and treatment. There were, among others purchased devices for cataract surgery, for the examination of intraocular pressure and the assessment of visual defects, glaucoma diagnostics and equipment for field tests, away.
The project will be summarized in December 2010. (PAP)