Eye
problems are widely assumed to be the major reason for frequent headaches in
kids. When a child reports recurring
headache during their school work, parents assume that their child is suffering
from a visual problem or needs a vision correction, consequently, they request
that their doctors refer their child for an eye exam. However, a new
retrospective review of the medical records of 158 children below the age of 18
who were observed for frequent headaches at the ophthalmology clinic
reveals that visual problems are seldom the cause of recurring headaches in
children, even if the regular headache seems to occur when the child is
performing visual activities or doing academic work.
The research was presented in November, 2012 by a team of
Pediatric Ophthalmologists at Albany Medical Center in New York, at the American
Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting in Chicago.
Researchers concluded, even though 14% of the children
accounted that their headaches occurred while doing visual tasks such as school
home work and around 9% reported visual symptoms associated with their
headaches, visual problem did not appear to be the prime reason or a factor in
any of these cases. In addition, follow up reports from parents validated the
research findings. Parents indicated
that headaches improved in 76.4% of all children, including those who did not
get vision correction as well as those who did. Moreover, new prescriptions did
not make it more probable that the children's headaches would reduce.
During this research, it was observed that about 30% of the
children had visual conditions that went beyond the need for correction in
vision. These conditions included strabismus, amblyopia and other more serious
situations. Though the research was a retrospective study, Pediatric
Ophthalmologists were not able to make connections between these factors and
the cause of headache.
Dr. Zachary Roth, who led the research team, commented, “We
hope our study will help reassure parents that, in most cases, their children’s
headaches are not related to vision or eye problems, and that most headaches
will clear up in time.”
However, optometry research does not sound logical for
optometrists who often treat children
with visual issues. Professor of
pediatrics/binocular vision at Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago,
Dominick Maino, suggests that the study did not consider the binocular vision
system beyond strabismus and ignored assessment of accommodation. This is
unfortunate, according to Dr. Miano, because most of the research published in
this area suggests that accommodation plays an important role in headaches
experienced by patients.
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UK offers specialist Optometry recruitment consultants. To find optometry
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