Abstract
Purpose :
Uncorrected myopic refractive error affects the lives and wellbeing of more than 500 million persons worldwide, most residing in low/middle-income countries. One of the obstacles to addressing the issue of uncorrected refractive error in rural communities in low/middle-income countries is the implementation of refraction measurement. In 2019, a pilot study was conducted in a remote rural community in India, testing an easy-to-use low-cost Refraction Kit (RK) for measurement of refraction error which can be performed by lay persons.
Methods :
The easy-to-use RK was developed in 2019 by two vision science researchers; the RK consists of 16 pages of Tumbling E letter chart and a tape measure. The RK determines refraction error based on viewing distance in lieu of trial lenses; it was first tested in the lab on 8 myopic eyes for proof-of-concept. The RK was then pilot tested by a layperson in the rural village of Venkatapuram in Telangana, India, where there is no access to eye-care professionals. The layperson who conducted the tests was the local postmaster who trained by watching a 10 min tutorial video. The postmaster conducted the test on 30 primary school students (age: 8 -9; 13 girls and 17 boys). The duration of the test for each person was less than 10 minutes.
Results :
In the laboratory proof-of-concept test, refraction error measured by RK (M = 3.94, SD = 1.66) was not significantly different from the eye prescriptions of the patients (M = 3.56, SD = 1.69) using paired t-test[1] (t(7) = -1.58, p = 0.156). In the on-site pilot study in India, it was found that 20% of students were nearsighted (2 girls and 4 boys) ranging from -1 to -3 diopters.
Conclusions :
There is a dire need for providing low-cost and easy-to-use solutions for measuring refraction error in many remote areas around the world. The new low-cost RK could be potentially used to address this issue because of its low cost, relative accuracy, and ease of use by laypersons.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.