Seasonal variation in response to occlusion treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Seasonal variation in response to occlusion treatment
IRAS ID
237916
Contact name
Eleanor Bordass
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sheffield
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 7 days
Research summary
Many children undergo patching (occlusion) treatment at their local orthoptics department to improve poor vision in one eye due to a condition called amblyopia. Factors such as age affect its success, with younger children needing to do less hours of patching to improve their vision than older ones. However, many factors affecting response to treatment cannot be changed (e.g. age or type of amblyopia). No studies have looked at if the time of year patching treatment is started affects how much vision improves. Research has suggested that it may be more difficult to patch in summer because wearing a patch will be more irritating due to higher temperatures, and as holidays may interrupt normal routines and support structures making treatment more difficult. This study will compare the amount of improvement in level of vision of children that started patching treatment in summer (June, July, or August) and those who started treatment in winter (December, January, February). It will also look at compliance (if the medical treatment was carried out as advised). Better compliance with treatment results in more improvement in vision and may reduce the amount of time a child needs to undergo treatment. As wearing a patch can be stressful for the child and family reducing treatment time would be beneficial.
All children aged 3 – 8 who started patching treatment in summer or winter will be recruited at Wishaw General Hospital’s orthoptics department. These children will undergo normal orthoptic assessment and their case notes will be reviewed for data on improvement in vision and their level of compliance. Some parents will also be asked to complete a questionnaire on which kinds of activities their child did when they first starting patching treatment. The study will be sponsored by the University of Sheffield.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0451
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion