Implications for insurance coverage?
In an accompanying editorial, experts, led by S. Grace Prakalapakorn, MD, department of ophthalmology and pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., noted the exclusion of children covered under government insurance or without insurance is an important study limitation, largely because socioeconomic status is a risk factor for poor mental health.
The editorialists point to studies showing that surgical correction of ocular misalignments may be associated with reduced anxiety and depression. However, health insurance coverage for such surgical correction “may not be available owing to a misconception that these conditions are ‘cosmetic’.”
Evidence of the broader association of strabismus with physical and mental health “may play an important role in shifting policy to promote insurance coverage for timely strabismus care,” they write.
As many mental health disorders begin in childhood or adolescence, “it is paramount to identify, address, and, if possible, prevent mental health disorders at a young age, because failure to intervene in a timely fashion can have lifelong health consequences,” say Dr. Prakalapakorn and colleagues.
With mental health conditions and disorders increasing worldwide, compounded by the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional studies are needed to explore the causal relationships between ocular and psychiatric phenomena, their treatment, and outcomes, they add.
The study was supported by a grant from the National Eye Institute and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness. Dr. Pineles has reported no relevant conflicts of interest. Commentary author Manpreet K. Singh, MD, has reported receiving research support from Stanford’s Maternal Child Health Research Institute and Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation; serving on the advisory board for Sunovion and Skyland Trail; serving as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson; previously serving as a consultant for X, the moonshot factory, Alphabet, and Limbix Health; receiving honoraria from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; and receiving royalties from American Psychiatric Association Publishing and Thrive Global. Commentary author Nathan Congdon, MD, has reported receiving personal fees from Belkin Vision outside the submitted work.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.