The functional impact of amblyopia

Amblyopia is the most common disorder managed in paediatric ophthalmic practice in industrialised countries. Reports on the impact of amblyopia on tasks relevant to the activities of children, or on skills pertinent to their education and quality of life, is leading to greater understanding of the functional disabilities associated with the condition. This review considers the extent to which amblyopia affects the ability to carry out everyday tasks, with particular attention to studies of motor skills and reading proficiency in children. Collectively, these studies show that amblyopia results in poorer outcomes on tests of skills required for proficiency in everyday tasks and which relate to childhood academic performance. However, the relative contributions that the documented vision anomalies inherent in amblyopia contribute to various functional disabilities is not fully determined. Recent reports have demonstrated improvement following treatment in standardised measures of fine motor skills involved in practical, everyday tasks. Including measurement of functional performance skills in amblyopia treatment trials is desirable to show treatment effect on crucial, real-world activities.