Abstract
Purpose:
To identify the prevalence and determinants of self-reported eye care use in Chinese Americans
Methods:
Chinese Americans residing the City of Monterey Park, California were invited to participate in the Chinese American Eye Study.This population-based, cross-sectional study included 4570 Chinese participants aged 50 years and older. Each eligible participant completed a detailed interview and eye examination.Participants were asked about eye care visit, having had a dilated examination in the past 12 months, ever having had a dilated examination. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predisposing, enabling and need variables associated with self-reported eye care utilization.
Results:
Overall, 22% of participants reported an eye care visit and 21% reported having a dilated examination in the past year. Fourty-eight percent reported ever having had a dilated eye examination. Greater eye care utilization was associated with older age, having health insurance, lower vision-specific quality of life scores, female gender, greater number of co-morbidities, currently driving, having a usual place for care, bilingual language proficiency (English and Asian), and more education.
Conclusions:
Overall eye care utilization rates among Chinese Americans were low. Increasing utilization and access to eye care for Chinese Americans should be a high priority because Chinese American is one of the fastest growing populations in the United States and vision impairment is a critical public health problem.