Impact of amblyopia and visual fatigue (v. 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Impact of Amblyopia and Visual Fatigue: The effect on developing literacy skills in school children.
IRAS ID
171430
Contact name
Alison Bruce
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
The proposed research project is a continuation of a current ethically approved study following the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort of children (a birth cohort is a group of people who are followed up from birth and have measurements taken at different points in their lives) to monitor the vision, and developing literacy skills in their early school years. The study uses routinely captured ophthalmic data from the local vision screening programme which children have had at age 4-5 years on school entry, this data along with measurements of literacy levels have been linked.
The data collected from routine vision screening in combination with the measurement of literacy levels in the BiB cohort of children each year in school will deliver a detailed profile of visual status prior to any treatment and allows an assessment of links between vision and developing literacy. The participating children have had both vision assessments and literacy assessments during their first (Reception) and second (Year 1) years at school.
In order to determine the impact of reduced vision on entering school on continuing visual development and the continuing development of literacy skills, this study proposes to follow the children up for a further 2 years repeating both the vision assessment and the literacy tests in school years 2 and 3.
In addition to assessing the potential impact of reduced vision on the children’s developing literacy skills, the study will measure the accuracy of the children’s ability to focus on a near object (accommodate) before and after the vision and reading assessments. This will allow us to determine if the accuracy of focusing in children is related to their reading ability and whether it is affected by prolonged focusing (visual fatigue).
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0058
Date of REC Opinion
13 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion