| A Comparative Study of Prevalence, Distribution and Patterns of Refractive Error in Korean Adults |
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In Ho Lee, Ho Yoon Kim, Jong Soo Lee |
Department of Ophthalmology, Pusan National University Hospital1, Busan, Korea
Department of Ophthalmology, Maryknoll Medical Center2, Busan, Korea |
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Received: 6 April 2017 • Revised: 28 April 2017 • Accepted: 28 April 2017 |
| Abstract |
Purpose: To investigate the prevalence, distribution and patterns of refractive error in Korean adults, and to analyze the basic data for ophthalmologic examination of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Methods: This study was conducted using the results of the eye health screening conducted January 2008 to December 2012 in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 13,916 Korean adults were divided into three age groups, 20 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, and 40 to 49 years of age. We investigated over the past five years of the prevalence, distribution and pattern of refractive error of them. Furthermore, we also examined the prevalence of myopia according to the living area, final graduate state, income of subjects, and incidence of myopia in children depending on the subject’s myopia for 3,374 people.
Results: Of the 13,916 people who have undergone ophthalmic examination for the past 5 years, 5,901 (42.4%) were male and 8,015 (57.6%) were female. The prevalence of refractive error was 53.6% in myopia, 38.9% in emmetropia, 6.4% in high myopia, and 1.2% in hyperopia. The prevalence of total myopia was the highest at 71.3% in the 20s and gradually decreased with age and was 50.0% in 40s. The prevalence of myopia in each year tended to increase gradually from 2008 to 2012, and similar findings were observed in all age groups. The prevalence of myopia was higher in the urban area, when the final educational attainment was high, and when the household income was high (p<0.001). Myopia was observed in children at a significantly higher rate when parents had myopia (p=0.001).
Conclusions: The prevalence of myopia according to year has increased gradually from 2008 to 2012 in refractive error distribution of Korean adults for the past 4 years, especially in urban areas and high educational attainment or high household income. |
| Key Words:
Prevalence of myopia; Korean adult; Myopia; Refractive error |
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