The prevalence of refractive errors among adults in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of refractive errors in persons 40 years and older. METHODS: Counts of persons with phakic eyes with and without spherical equivalent refractive error in the worse eye of +3 diopters (D) or greater, -1 D or less, and -5 D or less were obtained from population-based eye surveys in strata of gender, race/ethnicity, and 5-year age intervals. Pooled age-, gender-, and race/ethnicity-specific rates for each refractive error were applied to the corresponding stratum-specific US, Western European, and Australian populations (years 2000 and projected 2020). RESULTS: Six studies provided data from 29 281 persons. In the US, Western European, and Australian year 2..