Prevalence of Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children of Health-care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Questionnaire-based, Cross-sectional Survey

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of cerebral visual impairment (CVI) among children of the health-care workers in our hospital. Methodology: The questionnaire having 25 questions was used to screen all the participants. Participants who answered yes to <5 characteristics were categorized as no risk for CVI, those answering yes to 5-10 characteristics as low risk for CVI, and children answering yes to more than 10 as high risk for CVI. We also evaluated the high-risk red flag characteristics in the form of 5 questions adapted from Dutton's five-point questionnaire which indicates early features of CVI. Results: Twenty-four percent of the children were diagnosed to have characteristics suggestive of CVI. Eighty-one percent of these children were diagnosed to have low-risk CVI and 19% had high-risk CVI. A total of 6 (5.56%) children demonstrated at least three of the five red flag characteristics of Dutton and were confirmed to have CVI. Conclusion: There is a need for planning of future strategies about increasing awareness regarding CVI among health-care workers in India for early diagnosis and treatment.