PREVALENCE OF REFRACTIVE ERRORS IN A RURAL POPULATION OF ARGENTINA

A. URRETS-ZAVALIA, J.; CORREA L; ESPOSITO E; CRIM N; SUAREZ MARÍA F; GONZALEZ MARIA EUGENIA; MARTINEZ DANA; HM SERRA.

Congreso; ARVO ANNUAL MEETING 2015; 2015

Refractiveerrorsaffectalargeproportionofthegeneralpopulationandmaybehighlyhandicapping.MostofepidemiologicalstudieshavebeenconductedinAsia,EuropeandU.S.A.,1-3butinArgentinainformationonthismatterisscarce.Onestudyhasevaluatedtheprevalenceofrefractiveerrorsinanurbanoffice-workerspopulation,4butnopublisheddataisavailableconcerningruralpopulations. AstigmatismwasfoundtobethemostcommonrefractiveerrorinthispopulationofthenorthwestregionoftheArgentinePatagonia.Thishighprevalencecouldbeprincipallyrelatedtoenvironmentalfactorssuchasconstantwindscarryingsandandclaysoilparticlesthatinduceaforcedhalf-closeofeyelidswiththeconsequentlidpressureonthecornea.Ethnicandgeneticfactors,aswellasmalnutritionmayalsocontributetothishighprevalence.5,6
Thegeneralprevalenceofmyopiawaslow.Itwasmorefrequentlyobservedinwomen,generallyinvolvedinknittingandtissuemanufacturingfromlambwool,incontrastwithmenthatperformoutdooractivities.Epidemiologicalstudieshaveshownthatthedevelopmentofmyopiaispositivelyrelatedwitheducationallevelandnearvisionuse.1,2
FurtherstudiesmustbeconductedinordertoassessthesignificanceofrefractiveerrorsaffectingotherruralpopulationsfromdifferentregionsinArgentinathatarefrequentlymarginalizedfromnationalhealthpolicies.