Correlating Subjective Reports of Blurred Vision with Visual Acuity and Glasses Wear

Purpose: To analyze the relationship between middle school children's subjective reports of blurred vision and objective findings of uncorrected visual acuity and spectacle utilization.

Methods: One hundred fifty-five subjects at the CLEERE (Collaborative Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error) Study site in Tucson completed a questionnaire regarding their vision and glasses during follow-up eye examinations.

Results: Of those students with uncorrected binocular visual acuity worse than 20/40, 86% reported difficulty seeing things on the blackboard without glasses. Among students with uncorrected visual acuity 20/40 or better, 19% reported such difficulty (chi-square p<0.001). Mean uncorrected acuity was significantly worse in those students reporting difficulty seeing the board compared to those reporting no difficulty (20/60 vs. 20/25; p<0.0001). Of the 78 students who were dispensed glasses at a previous examination, 53% presented not wearing their glasses. Reasons given for not wearing their glasses were: lost (39%), broken (39%), did not like (19%), and no longer felt necessary (3%). Difficulty seeing the blackboard without glasses was reported by 89% of the students wearing glasses, 71% of the students who were not wearing their prescribed glasses, and 23% of students without previous glasses (ANOVA p<0.0001). Frequency of headache was not significantly different among the three groups (chi-square, p = 0.58).

Conclusion: Middle school students who were not wearing their glasses generally recognized that their vision was blurry without glasses. The majority were not wearing their glasses because the spectacles were lost or broken, not because they did not like them or find them helpful.