Refractive Error among the Elderly in Rural Southern Harbin, China

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence and associated factors of refractive errors among the elderly in a rural area of Southern Harbin, China.

Methods: Five thousand and fifty seven subjects (age ≥50 years) were enumerated for a population-based study. All participants underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation. Refraction was performed by ophthalmic personnel trained in the study procedures. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent worse than -0.50 diopters (D) and hyperopia as spherical equivalent worse than +0.50 D. Astigmatism was defined as a cylindrical error worse than 0.75D. Association of refractive errors with age, sex, and education were analyzed.

Results: Of the 5,057 responders (91.0%), 4,979 were eligible. The mean age was 60.5 (range 50–96) years old. The prevalence of myopia was 9.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.5–10.1) and of hyperopia was 8.9% (95% CI, 7.9–9.5). Astigmatism was evident in 7.6% of the subjects. Myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism increased with increasing age (p<0.001, respectively). Myopia and astigmatism were more common in males, whereas hyperopia was more common in females. We also found that prevalence of refractive error weas associated with education. Myopia was more common in those with higher degrees of education, whereas hyperopia and astigmatism were more common in those with no formal education.

Conclusions: This report has provided details of the refractive status in a rural population of Harbin. The prevalence of refractive errors in this population is lower than those reported in other regions of the world.

KEYWORDS::

• Refractive error
• elderly
• rural areas
• population-based survey

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of the Heilongjiang Health Bureau for organizational support, the Wuchang Town Hospital (Juan Huang) for logistical support, and Scott for correction to the text.

Declaration of interest: This work was supported by Nature Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China (D2007-51).