title: Prevalence and determinants of spectacle nonwear among rural Chinese secondary schoolchildren: the Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study Report 3.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study spectacle wear among rural Chinese children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Visual acuity, refraction, spectacle wear, and visual function were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 1892 subjects (84.7% of the sample), the mean (SD) age was 14.7 (0.8) years. Among 948 children (50.1%) potentially benefiting from spectacle wear, 368 (38.8%) did not own them. Among 580 children owning spectacles, 17.9% did not wear them at school. Among 476 children wearing spectacles, 25.0% had prescriptions that could not improve their visual acuity to better than 6/12. Therefore, 62.3% (591 of 948) of children needing spectacles did not benefit from appropriate correction. Children not owning and not wearing spectacles had better self-reported visual function but worse visual acuity at initial examination than children wearing spectacles and had a mean (SD) refractive error of -2.06 (1.15) diopter (D) and -2.78 (1.32) D, respectively. Girls (P < .001) and older children (P = .03) were more likely to be wearing their spectacles. A common reason for nonwear (17.0%) was the belief that spectacles weaken the eyes. Among children without spectacles, 79.3% said their families would pay for them (mean, US $15).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although half of the children could benefit from spectacle wear, 62.3% were not wearing appropriate correction. These children have significant uncorrected refractive errors. There is potential to support programs through spectacle sales.
authors.affiliation: Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. ncongdon@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Congdon
authors.forename: Mingwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Mingzhi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mingfei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhongxia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xueyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaojian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dennis S C
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005139:Eyeglasses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014787:Vision Tests; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology