Purpose:
To examine the relationship between current spectacle wear, grade in school, and type of refractive error in 1st-12th grade Tohono O’odham children.
Methods:
Subjects were 423 children who met the following criteria: attended 1st - 12th grade school on the Tohono O’odham reservation during the 2010/2011 or 2011/12 school year; enrolled in a longitudinal study of refractive error development; parent reported previous spectacle wear (questionnaire); completed a full eye exam as part of the study; were prescribed spectacles based on study criteria (astigmatism ≥ 1.00 D, myopia ≥ 1.00 D any meridian, hyperopia ≥ 2.50 D any meridian, anisometropia ≥ 1.50 D spherical equivalent). Each subject had a complete eye examination as part of the study, and upon arrival to the eye examination spectacle wear was recorded. Logistic Regression was used to determine if current spectacle wear was significantly related to: grade (1-3, 4-6, 6-9, 10-12) or to presence/absence of different types of clinically significant refractive error (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, anisometropia). Interaction terms for astigmatism*myopia and astigmatism*hyperopia were also included in the model.
Results:
Overall, only 33.6% of children whose parents reported that their child had been prescribed spectacles were wearing spectacles at the time of examination. Current spectacle wear was most related to the presence of clinically significant myopia; however, even among children with significant myopia, only 37% were wearing their spectacles.
Conclusions:
As other studies have found, myopes tend to be more compliant with spectacle wear as compared to non-myopes. However, overall the majority of students previously prescribed eyeglasses, including myopes, were not wearing them. These findings indicate that other factors, besides type of refractive error and grade, significantly influence spectacle wear compliance.
Keywords: visual development • astigmatism • clinical research methodology