The authors investigate whether the potential bias of gender, type of deviation, or size of deviation affected how strabismus was perceived among a general adult population. Eight photos were generated (head shots) of white people aged 25–30 years – purposive to reduce age and race bias. These were digitally altered to generate right-eye strabismus. There was one male and one female photo each of 50PD eso, 30PD eso, 50PD exo and 30PD exo. A two-part survey was circulated via social media. Demographic data of respondents was collected along with their ranking of photos for severity of strabismus and whether there was a considered need for strabismus correction. A Likert scale was used with 1 = most severe / most need of correction. Two-hundred-and-three responses were obtained from a sample of mean age 34 ±13.5 years, 52.2% female, 47.3% male, 0.5% other. Twelve-point-three percent had family history of strabismus and 7.9% with personal history of strabismus. Overall, male photos were perceived as having greater need for correction for eso or exo deviations and for all angles. Eso was perceived as more severe than exo across all photos.
General population perceptions of severity of strabismus vs. angle of deviation and gender
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe
Is there gender bias in perceptions of strabismus among adults?
CONTRIBUTOR
Fiona Rowe (Prof)
Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
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