Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate eye care utilization trends from 1997-2019 in Ontario's universal healthcare system.
Methods :
Ontario population-based physician billing data from 1997-2019 was analyzed. Using eye-related diagnostic codes, the annual number of eye visits (including revisits) and distinct eye patients (excluding revisits) per 100 population was determined, stratified by emergency/non-emergency visits, urban/rural residency, age, and physician specialty.
Results :
From 1997-2019, per 100 population, the number of eye-visits made by the Ontario population increased 29% (59.4 to 76.9) for non-emergency visits, but decreased 21% (1.17 to 0.93) for emergency visits.
The number of distinct eye patients per 100 population decreased 22% (32.0 to 25.1) for non-emergency visits and 20% (0.99 to 0.79) for emergency visits.
Among patients with an eye visit, the average number of visits per patient increased 63% (1.9 to 3.1) for non-emergency cases and was unchanged (1.2) for emergency cases.
From 1997-2019, rural residents had a lower non-emergency visit rate than urban residents (average 90.6 vs 94.9 per 100 population, respectively). However, the rate of emergency visits was more than double for rural (2.3) compared to urban residents (1.0) in all study years, excluding 1997.
Both urban and rural residents in the 20-39 and 40-64 age groups showed a large decline in non-emergency public-funded visits to optometrists after 2004 (60.3% in 2003 to 25.1% in 2019 in urban residents aged 20-39), but a substantial increase in public-funded visits to ophthalmologists (17.9% in 2003 to 44.9% in 2019 in urban residents aged 20-39). Trends in other age groups for ophthalmology and optometry visits remained stable or slightly increased.
From 1997-2019, top diagnoses varied by age groups but remained consistent overall for non-emergency (myopia, glaucoma and cataract) and emergency visits (corneal foreign body and conjunctivitis) each year.
Conclusions :
From 1997-2019, Ontario residents experienced a 29% rise in non-emergency eye visits but a 21% drop in emergency eye visits per 100 population. The number of distinct eye patients per 100 people decreased for both non-emergency and emergency visits. Per patient, the number of non-emergency visits increased 63%, accounting for the 29% increase in non-emergency visits. Urban residents had more frequent non-emergency visits but fewer emergency visits than rural residents.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.