Prevalence of Uncorrected Refractive Error and Its Risk Factors; Tehran Geriatric Eye Study (TGES)

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To determine the age-sex-standardized prevalence of uncorrected refractive error and its determinants

Methods

This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 3310 people aged≥ 60 years in Tehran, Iran in 2019. Need for spectacles was defined as uncorrected visual acuity worse than 20/40 in better eye that could be corrected to more than 20/40 with suitable spectacles. Met need was defined as proportion of individuals with need for spectacles whose visual acuity was 20/40 or better with current spectacles. Unmet need was defined as proportion of individuals with need for spectacles who needed but did not have spectacles or their visual acuity was worse than 20/40 with current spectacles while suitable spectacles improved their visual acuity to 20/40 or better.

Results

The age-sex-standardized prevalence of need for spectacles, met need, and unmet need was 16.67% (95% CI: 15.33–18.09), 7.81% (95% CI: 6.95–8.78), and 8.85% (95% CI: 7.77–10.07), respectively. Myopic subjects had the highest prevalence of need for spectacles (24.06%, 95% CI: 21.47–26.87). The odds ratio of met and unmet need in subjects≥ 80 years versus those aged 60–65 years was 0.36 (p-value: 0.009) and 2.34 (p-value: <0.001), respectively. The odds ratio of met and unmet need in subjects with a university education versus illiterate subjects was 1.72 (p-value: 0.045) and 0.42 (p-value: 0.007), respectively.

Conclusion

The prevalence of uncorrected refractive error was lower in this study compared to previous studies. The met need rate was lower in subjects with older age and lower education levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Myopia
• Hyperopia
• glass
• unmet refractive errors
• adult

Disclosure statement

None of the following authors have any proprietary interests or conflicts of interest related to this submission.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by National Institute for Medical Research Development (NIMAD) affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (grant code: 963,660).