Distribution of refractive errors in a clinical sample of patients examined in an optometric practice in Argentina
Abstract: Regarding the World Health Organization's global vision report, 80% of the world's visual impairment (VI) is preventable or curable with treatment. Uncorrected refractive errors (RE) (i.e. myopia [Mp], hyperopia [Hp], astigmatism [As]) are the most frequent cause of wor...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo revista |
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Universidad Nacional Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnología
2021
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| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/med/article/view/35037 |
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| Sumario: | Abstract:
Regarding the World Health Organization's global vision report, 80% of the world's visual impairment (VI) is preventable or curable with treatment. Uncorrected refractive errors (RE) (i.e. myopia [Mp], hyperopia [Hp], astigmatism [As]) are the most frequent cause of worldwide VI (43%). Although, they are easily diagnosable and correctable. Knowing the distribution of RE is the basis for planning primary health care (PHC) strategies, however, to date, only a few national reports are found.
The aim of this work is to determine the distribution of RE in a clinical sample of patients examined in an optometry practice, between 2016-2019, at the José Ingenieros de Melchor Romero hospital, Buenos Aires.
A cross-sectional study was performed, the clinic records of 475 patients were analyzed, and the RE was classified by the dioptric value reached (using retinoscopy technique and refined subjectively to the best monocular and binocular visual acuity) according to the following criteria: emmetropia (E) spherical value (sp.) -0.25≤sp.≤+0.25 diopters (D); Mp sp.<- 0.50D; Hp sp.≥ + 0.50D; As cyl. ≥-0.75D. The frequency of anisometropia was also determined for differences> 1D in the sp. between both eyes. All patients gave their consent for the use of the data. Only data from the right eye were used for the analysis, due to the good correlation of RD between right and left eyes (Pearson's correlation, 0.799).
The age range was from 4 to 88 years old, 34.1% males and 65.9% females. REs were present in 57% of the sample, with Hp (27%; 1.23 ± 1.15D) being the most frequent, followed by As (25%; -1.75 ± 1.37D) and Mp (5%, -2.16 ± 3.20D). Furthermore, anisometropia was present in 10.5% of the sample with an average value of 3.16 ± 2.44D.
Preventive strategies from the first level of care are necessary to detect and treat RE in order to reduce the VI associated with the amblyopia effect of uncorrected anisometropia and high As, lower health costs, and improve people's quality of life and education. |
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