February 1, 2011 – In an update to its 2004 recommendation, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends vision screening in all children at least once during the ages of 3 to 5 years to detect the presence of amblyopia or its risk factors. The USPSTF found that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of vision screening in children younger than 3 years of age.
The recommendation was published in the February issue of Pediatrics and is also available at http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Topic/recommendation-summary/visual-impairment-in-children-ages-1-5-screening-january-2011.
The USPSTF is a national, independent panel of medical experts that makes recommendations, based on scientific evidence, to primary care doctors and other health care providers about which clinical preventive services they should offer their patients.
