Vision impairment linked to depression, anxiety among kids

Children with vision impairment often experience greater symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to a recent study. Surgical treatment helps improve these mental health symptoms.

Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational and interventional studies that examined whether vision impairment and/or ocular morbidity and their treatment were associated with depression and/or anxiety in children. They searched multiple online databases for relevant studies and identified 28,992 articles.

A total of 36 studies met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 21 (58.3 percent) were observational studies concerning vision impairment, eight (22.2 percent) were observational studies involving patients with strabismus, and seven (19.4 percent) were interventional studies.

Researchers used narrative synthesis and meta-analysis with the residual maximum likelihood method. They found that relative to children with normal sight, those with vision impairment had significantly higher scores of depression (standard mean difference [SMD], 0.57, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.26–0.89; 11 studies) and anxiety (SMD, 0.61, 95 percent CI, 0.40–0.821; 14 studies).

On further analysis, myopic children had especially higher depression scores (SMD, 0.59, 95 percent CI, 0.36–0.81; six studies). On the other hand, strabismus surgery was associated with improved symptoms of depression (SMD, 0.59, 95 percent CI, 0.12–1.06; three studies) and anxiety (SMD, 0.69, 95 percent CI, 0.24–1.14; four studies).

The findings highlight the importance of early detection and management of mental health symptoms in children with vision impairment and ocular morbidity. Furthermore, the study supports insurance coverage for timely strabismus surgery.