Presbyopia: a pilot investigation of the barriers and benefits of near visual acuity correction among a rural Filipino population

BMC Ophthalmology

Research Article

David J Ramsey¹  Gerald P Giovannelli²  Marlo Salum³  Gregory S Wolfe⁴  Christopher M Guerrero⁵  Thomas J Wubben⁵ 

[1] Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, 02114, Boston, MA, USA;Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA;Saint Mary's University, Bayombang, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines;Southern California College of Optometry, Fullerton, CA, USA;University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA;

关键词: Presbyopia;    Quality of life;    Survey;    Near vision;    Stereoacuity;    Reading glasses;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2415-14-9

 received in 2012-11-28, accepted in 2014-01-02,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPresbyopia is the age-related decline in accommodation that diminishes the ability of the eye to focus on near objects. Presbyopia is common and easy to correct; however, many communities lack access to basic eye care. The purpose of this project was to assess the burden of uncorrected presbyopia in a rural Filipino population and to pilot an intervention aimed at increasing access to reading glasses in the community.MethodsIndividuals above the age of 40 who presented to a health outreach in the Philippines were invited to undergo a near vision exam to detect the presence of functional presbyopia and be fitted with ready-made, single-vision glasses. The change in stereoacuity was used as a surrogate measure of functional improvement after near vision correction. A questionnaire was administered to assess this population’s perceived barriers and benefits to correcting near vision.ResultsThe average age of the participants was 57 ± 11 years, with 87.6% of participants having an uncorrected near visual acuity of <20/50. Reading glasses improved near vision to 20/40 or better in 77.7% of participants having near-vision impairment (uncorrected near visual acuity of <20/40). Over 75% of participants also showed improvement in stereoacuity. Cost, rather than availability, was perceived to be the greater barrier to the procurement of glasses, and 84% of participants reported that the glasses dispensed would greatly improve their ability to earn a living.ConclusionsDispensing ready-made, single-vision glasses is a simple and cost-effective intervention to improve near vision and enhance depth perception. A greater understanding of the barriers and benefits to correcting near vision will inform the design and execution of a sustainable program to correct presbyopia in developing countries.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Wubben et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.