Socioeconomic Disparities Linked to Use of Eye Care

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

11 years ago

Socioeconomic Disparities Linked to Use of Eye Care

– Reported, July 23, 2013

(Ivanhoe Newswire) Significant differences in eye care services by socioeconomic position (SEP) persist among U.S. adults with eye diseases, according to a recent study.

Advances in the past few decades have made vision loss due to age-related eye diseases, particularly macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma treatable, preventable and in the case of cataracts, reversible. However, to benefit from the interventions people must have access to eye care, according to Xinzhi Zhang, MD, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health and colleagues.

The study results showed that people with age-related eye disease and a poverty-income ratio (PIR) of less than 1.50 were significantly less likely than those with a PIR of at least five to report visiting an eye care clinician (62.7 percent vs. 80.1 percent). Also, people with less than a high school diploma were less likely than those with at least a college education to report a visit to an eye care clinician (62.9 percent versus 80.8 percent).

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SOURCE: JAMA Ophthalmology, July 2013