Cataracts don't only affect older people ...
Did you know that cataract is the commonest cause of avoidable child blindness in the world?

The DIvO (Digital Imaging versus Ophthalmoscopy) study is a three year UK clinical study which aims to find out if digital imaging is a more accurate method of detecting cataracts in newborn babies than the current technique using an ophthalmoscope (a medical eye torch).

Each baby taking part in the study will have both the normal ophthalmoscopy test and imaging with the Neocam device so that we can compare the two methods to see if either is more accurate. This is a rare condition - only around 1 in 3,000 babies are born with cataract - so we need a large number (140,000) to take part in the study to be sure of the result.

​ ​​Find out more about baby cataract here.     Find out more about newborn eye screening here.

WHEN AND WHERE IS THE STUDY TAKING PLACE?

The study now under way, with up to 24 NHS maternity hospitals in England eventually planned to join.

If you are due to have your baby between summer 2023 and 2025, you may be asked for your permission to enrol your baby in the study.

Participating units will be joining as the study progresses. Click here to see the list of maternity centres we are expecting to take part in the study.

​​WHAT THIS COULD THIS MEAN FOR THE FUTURE ..

Improved cataract detection, resulting in earlier surgery, could reduce the risk of life-long visual impairment in babies born with cataract. In the UK, the findings of this study could lead to changes in the national newborn eye screening policy.

We also hope that the anonymised eye images collected from this study will eventually be used to develop and train the software used with the imaging device, allowing it to automatically alert the midwife when it recognised a potential problem.

An accurate method of eye screening for infants and children could then be made available in thousands of rural communities across the world where trained healthcare staff are often not available.