Assessment of everyday functioning in visually impaired children from a developing country1

PURPOSE: To assess the functional capabilities and performance in children with visual impairment who live in a developing country. METHODS: This was a case-control study, including binocular and monocular visually impaired children and non-visually disabled controls aged between 4 and 12 years. All participants underwent a basic ophthalmic exam and caregivers answered the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). The results were compared among the groups with ANOVA. RESULTS: The sample included 35 children with visual disability (21 binocular and 14 monocular) and 23 age-matched controls. The groups did not differ in age, gender, and ethnicity. For the functional skills scale, binocular impaired children had lower scores than children from the monocular group and controls in all three domains – self-care (59.6±33.0, P 0.05). CONCLUSION: Children with binocular visual impairment presented some degree of difficulty with everyday functioning whereas monocular visual impairment did not cause any limitation in function.