Recommendation for ophthalmic care in German preschool health examination and its adherence: Results of the prospective cohort study ikidS

Alexander K Schuster, Heike M Elflein, Christiane Diefenbach, Christine Gräf, Jochem König, Martina F Schmidt, Kathleen Schnick-Vollmer, Michael S Urschitz and on behalf of the ikidS-Study Group

PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Each child in Germany undergoes a preschool health examination including vision screening and recommendations for further ophthalmic care. This study investigated the frequency of and adherence to these recommendations. Methods: A population-based prospective cohort study was performed in the area of Mainz-Bingen (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). All preschoolers were examined at the statutory preschool health examination, which includes vision testing (Rodenstock vision screener) with available correction in the last preschool year. Based on the results, recommendations for further ophthalmic care were given to the parents. Six weeks prior to school entry, parents were surveyed concerning ophthalmic health care visits, diagnoses, and treatments. Ophthalmic care recommendation frequency and its adherence were investigated using logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders. Results: 1226 children were included in this study, and 109 children received a recommendation for ophthalmic care based on the preschool health examination. At the follow-up, 84% of children who had received a recommendation had visited an ophthalmologist within the preceding year compared to 47% of children who had not received a recommendation. The recommendation for ophthalmic care was clearly associated with a higher number of ophthalmological visits (odds ratio = 7.63; 95% confidence interval: 3.96–14.7). In a subgroup analysis, adherence to a recommendation was lower in children with migrant background (OR = 2.26; 95%-CI: 0.64–7.90, compared to: OR = 11.6; 95%-CI: 4.95–27.4) and in those with low socio-economic status. Conclusions: Adherence to preschool recommendations for ophthalmic care is high in German preschoolers. However, a migrant background and low socio-economic status may reduce this adherence.

Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208164 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 08164&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0208164

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208164

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().