Common Eye Disorder in Children Tied to Mental Illness
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Misaligned eyes in children are associated with an increased prevalence of mental illness, results of a large study suggest. Investigators found children with strabismus or "crossed eyes" had up to a twofold increased risk of developing anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia compared to their counterparts without the eye condition. Psychiatrists who have a patient with depression or anxiety and notice that patient also has strabismus might think about the link between those two conditions and refer that patient.
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@anup Strabismus, a condition in which the eyes don't line up or are "crossed" is one of the most common eye diseases in children, with some estimates suggesting it affects more than 1.5 million American youth. Patients with strabismus have problems making eye contact and are affected socially and functionally. They're often met with a negative bias, as shown by childrens' responses to pictures of faces with and without strabismus. There is a signal from previous research suggesting that strabismus is linked to a higher risk of mental illness. However, most of these studies were small and had relatively homogenous populations