In screening for congenital cataract, many false positive referrals will occur

BMJ 1999;319:122 ( 10 July )

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In screening for congenital cataract, many false positive referrals will occur

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EDITOR $---$ Rahi et al's data enable the annual incidence of congenital cataracts in the United Kingdom to be estimated.¹ Theincidence is roughly 3 per 10 000 live births after allowanceis made for their assessment of the non-completeness of the data.This rarity does not make the condition unimportant but does raiseconsiderable difficulties for a screening programme. This is especiallyso when the apparently simple screening test relies on the interpretationof a clinical sign that is difficult to elicit from many infantsin the circumstances in which the test is usuallyperformed.

The challenge for clinicians is to retain high sensitivity for detecting the abnormality without unduly reducing the specificity.In addition, they must resist the inevitable pressure to reducetheir sensitivity in the light of the large number of false positiveresults they detect. To put this in perspective, only one in every180 infants referred for further . . . [Full text of this article]

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National cross sectional study of detection of congenital and infantile cataract in the United Kingdom: role of childhood screening and surveillance: Jugnoo S Rahi and Carol Dezateux
BMJ 1999 318: 362-365. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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