Uncorrected Refractive Error is Prevalent in Patients with Ocular Disease

Patients with ocular disease and reduced visual acuity (VA) would benefit from refractive evaluation, especially those who are aged 40 to <65 years, African American, or have vision impairment (VI), according to an article published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

In this retrospective case series, 1773 patients 20 years or older who had habitual VA between 20/40 and underwent refraction were included.

Habitual VA was categorized as:

-Mild: VA worse than 20/40 and at least 20/60

-Moderate: VA worse than 20/60 and better than 20/200

-Severe: VA 20/200 or worse and better than 20/500

-Profound: VA 20/500 or worse

The mean habitual VA was 20/100, with approximately 28% of patients experiencing ≥2-line improvement and approximately 60% experiencing any VA improvement.

In patients with corneal disorders, 34.8% saw ≥2-line improvement. Improvement was seen more often in patients aged 40 to <65 years compared with those aged 20 to <40 years, in African American patients compared with white patients, or patients with moderate VI compared with mild VI.

Reference

Guo X, Swenor BK, Goldstein JE. Association of visual acuity improvement with uncorrected refractive error in patients new to low vision clinics. JAMA Ophthalmol.  2020; doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.1677