Rapid Assessment of Presbyopia (RAP) Study in a Marginally Literate Refugee Population

To date, there has been little epidemiological research into presbyopia. A better understanding of presbyopia, a leading cause of vision loss that affects older people, will become more important as the global population ages.

To assess coverage, met and unmet demand for presbyopia correction, we conducted a Rapid Assessment of Presbyopia (RAP) study among a marginally (30%) literate population of 18,000 ethnic Karenni refugees in Thailand.

Our two-stage cluster sampling methodology of 500 households yielded 487 adults, age 35 or older and determined current coverage rates (currently have reading glasses), unmet demand (don't have, but want reading glasses) and total demand (coverage + unmet demand). We analyzed possible associations of these rates with gender and 10-year age groups.

Results: current coverage 24.23% (95% CI=18.69-29.77); unmet demand 54.8% (95% CI=50.3-59.3); total demand 79.1% (95% CI=73.2-84.9); and 20.9% (95% CI=15.1-26.8) reported having no need or use for reading glasses. Males and older participants were significantly more likely to want and to have reading glasses compared to females (p<0.0000) and younger participants (p<0.0000). Females were significantly more likely to have an unmet demand for reading glasses compared to males (p<0.0000) but there was no significant association between 10-year age groups and unmet demand (p=0.0518).

Although much of the world lacks access to eyeglasses, the provision of simple reading glasses is neither expensive nor technically difficult. Presbyopia demand, coverage and other data useful for program planning can be easily collected using RAP methodology.