RESUMEN
Objetivo. Conocer la frecuencia de las alteraciones oftalmológicas más comunes en un grupo de niños preescolares de la Delegación Coyoacán de la Ciudad de México. Material y métodos. De un total de 93 escuelas de preescolares se seleccionaron 39 en forma aleatoria. Médicos pediatras practicaron un examen oftalmológico a 343 niños. Se obtuvieron frecuencias simples e intervalos de confianza de las frecuencias en los diferentes grupos y de cada uno de los trastornos. Resultados. De los 343 niños, 57 (16.6 por ciento) presentaron trastornos visuales; cuantro tenían estrabismo, cuatro catarata, uno glaucoma y 48 errores de refracción. Sólo 3.8 por ciento (13) habían sido valorados previamente. Conclusiones. Consideramos que la frecuencia encontrada es suficientemente significativa para promover y fomentar la detección oportuna de algunos trastornos oftalmológicos y disminuir el número de casos con diagnósticos tardíos
Objective. To estimate the prevalence of undetected vision abnormalities among preschool children. These problems can lead to a variety of adverse consequences, the most serious being amblyopia, wich becomes irreversible after the fifth year without treatment. In some other countries there are screening programs to identify visual abnormalities among four year old children. In our country there are no studies about the prevalence of this problem among preschool children. Material and methods. A total of 39 preschool children were randomly selected from 93 kindergarten schools in a District of Mexico City. In total, 343 children were screened for ophthalmologic abnormalities by two pediatricians who were previously trained for this purpose. Results. Fifty seven (16.6%) children failed the visual acuity testing: four had strabismus, four cataract, and one glaucoma, and 48 refraction defects. Only 13 (3.8%) had been previously examined, ever. Conclusions. We consider that the prevalence found supports the recommendation to promote ophthalmologic examining as part of the routinary child care practice and to perform preventive preschool screening.