Purpose: Study epidemiological characteristics and Prevalence of nystagmus among pediatric cases presented to Mansoura Ophthalmic center through one year.
Method: a prospective cross-sectional study included all nystagmus cases in children aged (0-18) years attending outpatient clinics of Mansoura Ophthalmic Center in the period between April 2018 and April 2019. Complete ocular examination and nystagmus asssessment were done.
Results: Number of children presented to outpatient clinics in Mansoura ophthalmic center was 24154, 13230 were male and 10924 were female. The prevalence of nystagmus among these cases was 72 (0.3%), 42 were male and 30 were female. median age among nystagmus cases was 5.5 years (0.33-17). Median BCVA was 0.77800 logMAR (0.00 - 2.400). Abnormal head posture (AHP) was detected in 24 cases (33.3%). Strabismus was present in 47.2 % of cases. Work up abnormal findings in the children referred for investigations were 71.4 % in ERG, 43% in VEP, 24.5% in MRI brain. Etiological types of nystagmus of studied cases were sensory nystagmus in 36 cases (50 %), neurological cause in 13 cases (18.1%), infantile idiopathic nystagmus in 8 cases (11.1%), fusional maldevelopment syndrome in 6 cases (8.9%), spasmus nutans in 4 cases (5.6%), gaze evoked nystagmus & combined sensory and neurological nystagmus both were 2 cases (2.8%), one case (1.4%) of mono ocular nystagmus of childhood.
Conclusion: The most common etiological types; sensory nystagmus followed by neurological, infantile idiopathic, fusional maldevelopment syndrome in the same order. Strabismus and AHP are common in nystagmus.