Original articleUncorrected Refractive Error in a Latino Population: Proyecto VER
Section snippets
Study Design and Procedure
Detailed descriptions of the study methods have been presented13 and are summarized in this article. Proyecto VER (Spanish for “to see”) is a population-based survey of ocular disease, visual impairment, and legal blindness among non-institutionalized Latinos living in southern Arizona. With the use of the 1990 U.S. Census, block groups from Nogales and Tucson were randomly selected for inclusion in this study with a probability of selection within the strata proportional to the size of the
Population Characteristics
From the 4255 eligible dwelling units, 6659 eligible subjects were identified. Among the eligible subjects, 4769 (72%) completed both the home interview and the ophthalmic examination including visual acuity assessment. As reported previously,9 nonparticipants were more likely to be among the youngest age group (40–49 years) or the oldest age group (≥80 years) and to be male. They were also less likely to report having fair or poor health and less likely to report having problems with their
Refractive Error
The prevalence of RE among our Latino study population of adults in Arizona was found to be as high as 64% in at least 1 eye or as low as 51% in both eyes. Analysis of this population revealed that RE was associated with increasing age and female gender. The increase in RE with age is consistent with Hyman's16 review of RE, in which she notes RE increase among adults is accounted by 2 principle changes: (1) a “hyperopic shift” first seen in the 40- to 50-year age groups and continuing until 60
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2014, Journal of OptometryCitation Excerpt :Our findings correlate to those of other studies. A decrease in with-the-rule astigmatism with an increase in against-the-rule astigmatism is observed as the population aged.2,6–8,12,15,16 This finding can also be explained as a result of crystalline lens changes during the aging process mentioned elsewhere.3,13,14
Refractive error and visual function difficulty in a latino population
2012, OphthalmologyCauses of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Latin America
2012, Survey of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Among those who needed glasses, the average visual acuity was 20/55.4, 20/30 after prescription. More recently, Uribe et al280 studied the prevalence of refractive errors in Hispanic adults 40 years or older in the United States and found that approximately half had refractive errors in both eyes, and 35% had UREs in at least one eye, almost 20% in both eyes. As refractive errors can be easily diagnosed and treated, the high percentage of visual impairment from UREs in Latin America suggests that many patients needing spectacle correction either do not have access to eye care or cannot afford glasses.
Manuscript no. 2010-725.
The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Funding: a Senior Scientific Investigator award from Research to Prevent Blindness to Dr. West; National Eye Institute (core grant: EY11283).