A Cross Sectional Study on the Possible Association between Socioeconomic Status and Unmet Ophthalmic Medical Needs
Journal Title: Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research - Year 2016, Vol 17, Issue 3
Abstract
Purpose: Health care research increasingly concentrates on the putative dependence of health care access of socioeconomic determinants. For the particular aspect of ophthalmic health care the intention of this cross sectional study was to assess a possible association between socioeconomic status and lacking ophthalmological health care supplementation. Materials and Methods: Regular visitors to the “Muelheim Tafel” social project were recruited and contrasted to administrative hospital staff, both cohorts serving as model cohorts of different socioeconomic status. The cohorts were then compared alongside visual and refractive endpoints based on a total of 110 “Tafel” participants and 68 hospital staff members. The probands’ “presenting” visual acuity was assessed by means of vision charts (in case of probands wearing glasses, the presenting visual acuity was assessed while wearing these glasses, otherwise without glasses to imitate “daily life” vision); furthermore the probands’ “best achievable” corrected visual acuity was assessed by means of an autorefractometer. The primary endpoint was defined by – in at least one eye – a simultaneous presenting visual acuity of less than or equal to 0.5 and a corrected visual acuity of more than 0.5. Results: The primary endpoint had a prevalence of 34% in the “Tafel” cohort and of 10% in the hospital staff cohort; this difference in prevalences was found statistically significant (Fisher p<0.001). This cohort gradient was reproduced for merely all secondary visual and refractive endpoints under consideration. Conclusion: This cross sectional investigation demonstrated a statistically significant association between socioeconomic status and deficits in ophthalmic health care in terms of best achievable visual improvement.
Authors and Affiliations
Birgit-Bettina Bestges, Cay-Christian Lösche, Frank Krummenauer
A Study of Frequency of Glomerular Diseases (Biopsy Proven) from a Tertiary Care Center of North West Rajasthan
Aims and Objective: Glomerular disease (GD) is one of the most common forms of renal diseases and can have many different clinical presentations and there is a variation in the prevalence of the type of GD according to g...
Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibition Affect Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in the Blood of STZ Induced Diabetic Rats
Background: Carbonic anhydrase is found in the blood of all vertebrate and thus playing a fundamental role in the maintenance of acid-base homeostasis. Erythrocytes are intrinsically prone to oxidative stress because of...
Dietary Risk Factors for Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: A Confirmatory Case-Control Study
Aims: This study’s primary purpose was to determine whether earlier findings suggesting an association between sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of humans and specific d...
Broader Transparency on Risk-benefit Assessment of the Bial Trial in France
On 11 January 2016, a Phase I trial of an experimental fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor for pain developed by Bial-Portela was halted after six healthy volunteers were admitted to the University of Rennes Hospital in...
Predictors of Factors Sustaining HIV/STI Protective Behaviours among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Mukuru Slums, Nairobi: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Aims: To identify factors which contribute to sustained human immunodeficiency virus protective behaviours for out-of-school slum-dwelling young women aged 15-24 years by assessing consistent condom use and having one se...