AIM: To analyze the impact of age on children with amblyopia and the correlation between pattern visual evoked potential(PVEP)test results and age.

METHODS: A total of 136 cases(272 eyes)of children with ametropic amblyopia in our hospital from June 2012 to June 2014 were analyzed. Based on the best corrected visual acuity(BCVA): BCVA ≥0.5, 0.3≤BCVA<0.5, BCVA<0.3, subjects were categorized into three groups: mild group, moderate group and severe group, each group was further divided into two subgroups based on age: <6 years and ≥6 years. The latency(LP100)and amplitude(AP100)of each group were tested by PVEP, an independent samples t test was used to analyze the differences between each age subgroups. Then, age was subdivided into 4 sections(4～<6 years, 6～<8 years, 8～<10 years, ≥10 years), take BCVA as the dependent variable, a Logistic multivariate regression model whose parameters included age, spherical equivalent, gender, type of amblyopia was established to analyze the correlation between age and amblyopia diagnosis.

RESULTS: With an increase in the degree of amblyopia, the LP100 increased and the AP100 decreased. The differences between 3 groups in the LP100 and AP100 were statistically significant(F=135.22, 16.74; P=0.007<0.01); Within the mild, moderate and severe amblyopic groups, the LP100 of the ≥6 years group were longer than those of the <6 years group(t=8.36, 5.37, 2.48; P=0.00, 0.00, 0.02), and the AP100 of the former were less than those of the latter(t=6.76, 4.88, 2.85; P=0.00, 0.00, 0.01). Age was an independent risk factor for amblyopia diagnosis(P <0.01, 95% CI=0.714～0.785).

CONCLUSION: Age is independently associated with the diagnosis of ametropic amblyopia, to different ages of children, the same vision represent different functional significance. In measuring the severity of amblyopia in children, different ages respond to adopt different standards.