Patterns of Amblyopia Treatment Employed by Iranian Ophthalmologists and Optometrists in XXII Annual Congress of the Iranian Society of Ophthalmology

To compare amblyopia treatment knowledge employed by pediatric ophthalmologists and optometrist with general ophthalmologists and other ophthalmic fellowships in 2012. This cross-sectional study was performed during the Iranian Society of Ophthalmology annual meeting in 2012 through a questionnaire containing demographic information and 20 closed-answer questions based on ATS’ results. The questions were classified into seven categories and the correct score sum was 100. For comparing the scores, optometrists and pediatric ophthalmologists were considered as the case group (153), while other practitioners (general ophthalmologists and other subspecialists) were regarded as the control group (305). Inadequate, fair and good knowledge criteria were considered by scores of < 50, 50 to 70 and >70 respectively. Overall, 409 participants completed the questionnaire including 24 pediatric ophthalmologists and 129 optometrists as case group and 256 as control group. Mean scores of the case group were significantly higher than the control group in all 7 categories and in 5 of them thedifferences were statistically significant. The worst and best scores were related to atropine (12%) and visual acuity improvement with glasses (93%), respectively. Scores for answers to other questions were about 50%. There was no relationship between having an academic appointment or the number of amblyopia referral per week and the level of knowledge. In all categories except prescription of atropine and recurrence mean score of females are higher than male participants. Based on the results of the current study, knowledge about amlyopia therapy seems to be fair overall and can be improved by better education. We suggest planning more CME courses focusing on updates of amblyopia treatment.