News and Events

NEI Statement

Preschool Vision Screening Task Force Report

National Eye Institute
National Institutes of Health

The Summary of a Task Force Report on Preschool Vision Screening, published in the November 2000 issue of the journal Pediatrics, was written by an expert panel organized by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Many interested organizations and individuals were represented on the expert panel. The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health, served as a consultant in organizing the expert panel.

The MCHB has long supported screening programs for children with vision impairments and other special needs. The MCHB organized and sponsored a two-day meeting in September 1998 in which eye care professionals and others looked closely at vision screening in the preschool child, particularly as it applied to detecting risk factors that could lead to amblyopia, a vision disorder that can lead to impaired vision later in life.

Both the MCHB and the NEI share an interest in this important area. The NEI's focus is in the area of research, complimenting the MCHB's role, which is the development of health care policy and programs. The NEI is supporting a number of research projects in the area of vision screening. The Vision in Preschoolers Study is a multi-center, prospective clinical study that will evaluate screening tests for children ages three and four. Approximately 6400 children will be enrolled in this study, which is in its final planning stages.

November 2000