Prevalence and determinants of spectacle nonwear among rural Chinese secondary schoolchildren: the Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study Report 3.
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.
Congdon
Nathan
N
Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. ncongdon@cuhk.edu.hk
Zheng
Mingwei
M
Sharma
Abhishek
A
Choi
Kai
K
Song
Yue
Y
Zhang
Mingzhi
M
Wang
Mingfei
M
Zhou
Zhongxia
Z
Li
Liping
L
Liu
Xueyu
X
Liu
Xiaojian
X
Lam
Dennis S C
DS
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