If your child gets recurring headaches and you think they might need
glasses, you may be mistaken - a new study says children's headaches are
rarely triggered by vision problems.
The study, presented Monday
at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual meeting, was conducted
by researchers at the ophthalmology clinic of Albany Medical Center in
New York. They evaluated medical records of nearly 160 children under
the age of 18 who were being seen at the clinic for frequent headaches.
Researchers
compared the exams of children with headaches to their earlier vision
exams and other medical records. In 75% of the children, the vision test
results were the same. No significant link was found between the
headaches and a need for glasses - even if the headaches happened when
the child is doing a visual task like homework.
"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," said Dr. Zachary Roth, who led the
research team. "The information should also be useful to family doctors
and pediatricians in caring for children and parents who have this
common health concern."
Researchers found in most cases, the
children's headaches resolved over a period of time regardless of
whether the child got a new prescription for glasses or not. And those
who did get new glasses were no more likely to have their headaches get
better.
It's highly unusual to find something wrong with the eyes
when a child complains of headaches, says Dr. Daniel Neely, a professor
of ophthalmology at Indiana University who specializes in pediatrics and
the chairman of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology
and Strabismus' vision screening committee.
"The study is
consistent with everyone's clinical practice around the country. If the
child has headaches the first stop should be their primary care doctor,
and they will assess whether or not a comprehensive eye exam would be
indicated."
According to Neely, vision screenings - whether
someone just measures the vision with an eye chart or with a vision
screening device (camera-type devices called photo screeners) - should
be part of a pediatric well-child visit .
"Some of them are very
good about doing it and some of them are not very good about doing it,
but the recommendation is that it should be done every year or two," he
says. " ... What we don't recommend is that everyone get a comprehensive
eye doctor eye exam unless they fail a screening or unless there is
something in their family history that puts them at increased risk."
Neely says if vision screening is not being offered as part of the well-child visits, ask for it - sooner rather than later.
"The
reason that there's a time factor on these screenings is because of a
condition called amblyopia," he says. "Young children less than age 7
are neurologically immature and if you have something significant
affecting their vision, their brain will actually stop using the eye or
both eyes and that becomes permanent loss of vision if not detected and
treated. So the younger you identify them, the more easily you can treat
them."
Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is very common in children and is
responsible for more vision loss than all the other causes combined,
according to AAPOS. It happens when the eye sends blurry images to the
brain, confusing it and causing the brain to learn to ignore images from
the weak eye.
And Neely says as children get older they are less
likely to respond to corrective treatment. "So if you detect something
at age 10 that was serious, it would be too late. And that, again, is
why we want the pediatrician doing this, because by the time the kid
gets to school that window of opportunity is closing. So a vision
screening by the school nurse in first grade might be too late."
Most
pediatricians will do some variation of the screening at every visit,
Neely says, but AAPOS recommends children have a documented vision
measurement by age 5.
