Trial reportActa ophthalmologica2020
Bifocals reduce strabismus in children with Down syndrome: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Acta ophthalmologica, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and Etiology of Strabismus in Down Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with a Focus on Ethnic Differences in the Esotropia/Exotropia Ratio.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- One-year effects of bifocal and unifocal glasses on executive functions in children with Down syndrome in a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Ophthalmic screening in down syndrome: A DSMIG UK Best practice recommendation (Revised 2025).Eye (London, England) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of ophthalmic abnormalities and refractive changes in Taiwanese children with Down syndrome.PloS one · 2025Article
- The Ophthalmic Manifestations of Down Syndrome.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Differences between children with Down syndrome and typically developing children in adaptive behaviour, executive functions and visual acuity.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Neuro-Ophthalmological Manifestations in Children with Down Syndrome: Current Perspectives.Eye and brain · 2021Review
- Down syndrome: a review of ocular manifestations.Therapeutic advances in ophthalmologyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeChildren with Down syndrome (DS) more often have strabismus, refractive errors, accommodative lags and reduced visual acuity (VA) than typically developing children. In this study, we compare the effects of bifocal glasses with those of unifocal glasses in children with DS. Changes in angle of strabismus, accommodation and refractive error were analysed in this paper.
methodsIn a multicentre randomized controlled trial, 119 children with DS, aged 2-16, were randomly allocated for bifocal or unifocal glasses (with full correction of refractive error in cycloplegia). The 15 centres, all in the Netherlands, followed the participants for 1 year. Changes in refractive error, accommodative accuracy, strabismus, binocularity and stereopsis were compared across 4 subsequent visits.
resultsRefractive errors and accommodative errors showed no significant change throughout the course of our study in either intervention group. The manifest angle of strabismus, however, reduced significantly in the bifocal group. This improvement was observed shortly after the children received their new correction (~6 weeks) (linear regression: t = 3.652, p < 0.001) and remained present in the final measurements after 1 year (linear regression: t = 3.604, p < 0.001). The percentage of children with positive binocularity and stereo tests showed no significant differences between the groups.
conclusionBifocals with full correction of refractive error reduce the manifest angle of strabismus within a few weeks. No effects on accommodation, refractive error, stereopsis and binocularity occurred over the course of 1 year.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.