Causes of Childhood Blindness in the United States using the IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight)

PURPOSE: To investigate causes of childhood blindness in the United States using the IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight). DESIGN: Cross-Sectional Study. PARTICIPANTS: Patients ≤18 years of age with visual acuity 20/200 or worse in their better seeing eye in the IRIS Registry during 2018. METHODS: Causes of blindness were classified by anatomical site and specific diagnoses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Percentages of causes of blindness. RESULTS: Of 81,164 children with 2018 visual acuity data in the IRIS Registry, 961 (1.18%) had visual acuity 20/200 or worse in their better-seeing eye. Leading causes of blindness were retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in 301 (31.3%), nystagmus in 78 (8.1%), and cataract in 64 (6.7%) patients. The retina was the leading anatomic site (47.7%) followed by optic nerve (11.6%) and lens (10.0%). A total of 52.4% of patients had treatable causes of blindness. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis offers a unique cross-sectional view of childhood blindness in the US using a clinical data registry. More than one-half of blind patients had a treatable cause of blindness.