VISUAL-ACUITY IN PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN - THE CHAPEL-HILL DURHAM DAY-CAREVISION STUDY

Between 1985 and 1987, 1362 preschool children attending 45 day-care c enters in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina had their visual acui ties tested by matching HOTV opto-types. Study participants were compr ised of 718 males and 644 females. Seven hundred eight were African Am ericans, 607 were white, and 47 were from other ethnic groups. The chi ldren's ages were 89<3 years, 496=3 years, 531=4 years, and 246>5 year s old. Only 69 children (5.1%) were unable to have their visual acuity tested in both eyes. Although there was no association between testab ility and either race or gender, there was a strong association with a ge, with 65 of the 69 children (94.2%) not testable being <4 years old . Further, there was a clear relationship between visual acuity and ag e. The 1293 participants (2586 eyes) whose visual acuity was measured successfully in both eyes revealed that 2471 eyes (95.4%) had visual a cuities of 20/40 or better. There were significantly more African Amer icans (56 or 8.4%) than whites (23 or 4.0%) in the 20/40-1 to 20/100 c ategory.