Patching adherence is linked to improved grating visual acuity

Patching during the first six months after surgery is linked to improved grating visual acuity in infants with unilateral cataract, reveals a paper in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.

Dr Carolyn D. Drews-Botsch et al., Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, completed a randomized clinical trial of 108 infants with unilateral congenital cataract.

Patching was conducted one hour per day every month until the patient was eight months of age. The mean percentage of prescribed patching was used to measure adherence in a weeklong diary completed two months postoperatively. Recall interviews lasting 48 hours were also performed three and six months postoperatively.

Teller Acuity Cards were used to measure grating visual acuity within one month of the infant's first birthday. The link between grating acuity and patching was found with nonparametric correlations.

The results revealed that 84.3% of prescribed time and adherence did not change according to treatment. Adherence was found to be strongly associated with grating acuity, especially among pseudophakic patients compared to aphakic infants. Implanting an intraocular lens (IOL) was not linked to adherence.