Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
A new study has found a link between socio-economic status and lazy eye, with researchers saying this may stem from families of immigrants and those of ultra-Orthodox religion being less likely to bring their children in for regular vision screenings or follow through with treatment plans.
Researchers from the Hebrew University and doctors from the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps and Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem tracked the prevalence of lazy eye, known medically as amblyopia, among 1.5 million Israeli teens.
The researchers analyzed their medical records and socio-economic data between 1993 and 2017.
While rates of amblyopia have been declining in the country since 1993, the study found that one per cent (14,367) of teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 had lazy eye. The researchers say this is an issue as not much can be done to correct the visual impairment at this late age.
Lazy eye is a childhood condition where the vision does not develop properly because one or both eyes are unable to build a strong link to the brain. The study notes that the condition usually only affects one eye, causing the child to see less clearly out of the affected eye and rely more on the other eye.
Researchers say lazy eye can cause permanent visual damage, impair daily activities such as reading, walking or driving, and lead to social and financial deficits later in life if not diagnosed or treated by the age of seven.
The findings were published Monday in the European Journal of Public Health.
The studied teens were potential military recruits, according to researchers, who already had to undergo mandatory health checks to assess their eligibility for military service, such as eye exams, as well as providing information about their socio-economic status, schooling, country of birth, family income, and cognitive function scores.
Researchers reported that lower socio-economic status and scoring lower on cognitive function tests increased the odds of one having lazy eye among those studied.
"While the overall prevalence of amblyopia has decreased, being in the lowest socio-economic status and having below average cognitive function scores increased the odds of lazy eye in both males and females," Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor and the study's lead author Hagai Levine said in a press release.
In addition, researchers found that the prevalence of lazy eye was double among young men who grew up in ultra-Orthodox settings compared to those raised in secular communities.
The study also found a higher rate of lazy eye among teens born outside Israel, specifically immigrants born in the Soviet Union, North Africa and Ethiopia, in comparison to immigrant teens from other countries or Israeli teens born to parents from these countries.
According to the study, Israeli children undergo "several" vision screenings to promptly diagnose lazy eye and prevent long-term visual disabilities beginning at infancy.
As well, the study noted that Israeli citizens have state-mandated medical insurance and treatment options at "minimal costs are theoretically available" to any child who needs them.
The study's authors say more research is needed to better understand the barriers that create differences in lazy eye prevalence among various groups.
"We’d like to see changes to Israel’s public health policy, specifically to increase allocations for vision screening and treatment compliance monitoring for those populations vulnerable to developing lazy eye," Hadassah Medical Center’s Dr. Claudia Yahalom said in the release.
According to the study, it is estimated that between one and five per cent of children worldwide have lazy eye.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
Spanish state prosecutors recommended Wednesday that an investigating judge shelve a probe into another alleged case of tax fraud by pop star Shakira.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.