More ophthalmic findings in autism

"Ophthalmic pathology was noted in 26.9 % of patients with ASD [autism spectrum disorder], of which 22 % had significant refractive errors and 8.6 % had strabismus."

That was the conclusion reached in the paper by Emrah Utku Kabatas and colleagues [1] based on the premise that: "Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently have ophthalmologic disorders"; that is, issues with the anatomy and function of the eyes.

We've been here before. I'll take you back to the post that I wrote around the paper by Ikeda and colleagues [2] and their quite remarkable suggestion that ophthalmic pathology was present in 40% of people with autism or a related disorder. Such cumulative evidence should be enough to convince even the most sceptical healthcare providers that they should be setting up regular eye care appointments for every person diagnosed with autism. More so when perhaps autism is joined with faddy eating habits and the important effects that nutritional deficiency might also bring to eye health (see here).

Music: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love.

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[1] Kabatas EU. et al. Initial Ophthalmic Findings in Turkish Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2015 Mar 24. 

[2] Ikeda J. et al. Brief report: incidence of ophthalmologic disorders in children with autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 Jun;43(6):1447-51.

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Kabatas EU, Ozer PA, Ertugrul GT, Kurtul BE, Bodur S, & Alan BE (2015). Initial Ophthalmic Findings in Turkish Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders PMID: 25800865