Amblyopia treatment outcomes did not differ in a multi-regional binocular treatment trial between Chinese Han and White children
To date, no study has compared amblyopia treatment outcomes between White and Chinese Han children treated using a similar protocol, and data are lacking on whether treatment efficacy differs by race/ethnicity. This post-hoc exploratory analysis compared two methods of amblyopia treatment outcomes (patching and binocular treatment (CureSight, NovaSight, Israel) between Chinese Han and White children enrolled in a prospective, multicenter, evaluator-masked randomized clinical trial. A total of 186 children aged 4 to < 9 years (137 White; 49 Chinese Han) with anisometropic, strabismic, or mixed-mechanism amblyopia were randomized in 1:1 ratio to home-based binocular treatment (90 min/day, 5 days/week) or patching (2 h/day, 7 days/week) for 16 weeks. Overall amblyopic-eye visual acuity (VA) improvement was similar in White and Chinese Han participants (0.25 ± 0.13 and 0.24 ± 0.11 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) (mean ± standard deviation), respectively; both p < 0.0001); the between-race least-squares mean difference was -0.026 logMAR (95% CI -0.209 to 0.157; p = 0.777). No significant between-race differences were found in stereoacuity improvement (p = 0.15) or binocular VA improvement (p = 0.856). Adherence exceeded 85% in both groups (monitored objectively via eye-tracking logs for binocular treatment and via parental diaries for patching); no serious adverse events were reported. These findings suggest that amblyopia treatment outcomes may not differ meaningfully by race/ethnicity, though the small Chinese Han sample (n = 49) limits definitive conclusions. Larger prospective studies are warranted.
Authors
- M Wang
- Majd Arow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4740-1237)
- Ilya Ortenberg
- Brandy Scombordi
- Nausheen Khuddus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4029-7123)
- Oren Yehezkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8001-6325)
- Koni Arnold
- Tamara Wygnanski-Jaffe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9737-7821)
- Adrian Kun
- Ronen Rabinovich
- Laura Bejarano
- Erin C. Jenewein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4683-2796)
- Jasmine Campbell
- Eedy Mezer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2818-7538)
- Burton J. Kushner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6046-8797)
- Nicholas A. Sala
- Jenny Myung
- Gaylord G. Ventura
- Gabriel Avraham
- Eric R. Crouch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6705-4132)
- Luba Rodov
- Abraham Spierer
- Haia Katz
- Alexandra Goz
- Michael Belkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6174-1182)
- Ahuva Shpigelman
- Maoz Hadash
- Hana Leib
- Anabel Bazov
- Emad Borsha
- Idit Keynann
- Nathalie Corcos
- Vered Brucker
- Eran Laster
- Ronit Politi
- Hila Givoni
- Ahed Amitirat
- Adelina Zioni
- Katty Kuperman
- Nethanel Zitzer
- Nadine Jaffe
- Yael Corcos
- C. J. Barrett
- Keren Roll
- Chaim Nissen
- Dan Cohen
- Meital Abecassis
- The CureSight Pivotal Trial Group
- Rinat Cohen
- Rhonda Hodde
- Brittany Troiano
- Reut Parness
- Wei Zhang
- Juan Bu
- Rui Liu
- Hong Liu
- Lori Zeto
- Rui Hao
- Nicholas Sala
- Robert W. Arnold
- Wesley Cox
- Tammy Toskes
- Iesha Hamric
- Shu Wang
- Casey de Veer
Institutions
- Drexel University Elkins Park Campus (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Sheba Medical Center (IL)
- Kaplan Medical Center (IL)
- Soroka Medical Center (IL)
- Rambam Health Care Campus (IL)
- Shaare Zedek Medical Center (IL)
- Maccabi Healthcare Services (IL)
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center (CN)
- Erie VA Medical Center (US)
- Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University (CN)
- Eriez (United States) (US)
- Virginia Eye Consultants (US)
- Peking University Third Hospital (CN)
- Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2026-10-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-74943-0
- Primary Topic
- Ophthalmology and Visual Impairment Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Research to Prevent Blindness