skip to content
Dovepress - Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research
View our mobile site

8852

The prevalence rates of refractive errors among children, adolescents, and adults in Germany

Original Research

(2919) Views  (943) Full article downloads

Authors: Sandra Jobke, Erich Kasten, Christian Vorwerk

Published Date October 2008 Volume 2008:2(3) Pages 601 - 607
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S2836

Sandra Jobke1, Erich Kasten2, Christian Vorwerk3

1Institute of Medical Psychology, 3Department of Ophthalmology, Otto-von Guericke-University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; 2Institute of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Germany

Purpose: The prevalence rates of myopia vary between 5% in Australian Aborigines to 84% in Hong Kong and Taiwan, 30% in Norwegian adults, and 49.5% in Swedish schoolchildren. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of refractive errors in German children, adolescents, and adults.

Methods: The parents (aged 24–65 years) and their children (516 subjects aged 2–35 years) were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their refractive error and spectacle use. Emmetropia was defined as refractive status between +0.25D and –0.25D. Myopia was characterized as ≤−0.5D and hyperopia as ≥+0.5D. All information concerning refractive error were controlled by asking their opticians.

Results: The prevalence rates of myopia differed significantly between all investigated age groups: it was 0% in children aged 2–6 years, 5.5% in children aged 7–11 years, 21.0% in adolescents (aged 12–17 years) and 41.3% in adults aged 18–35 years (Pearson’s Chi-square, p = 0.000). Furthermore, 9.8% of children aged 2–6 years were hyperopic, 6.4% of children aged 7–11 years, 3.7% of adolescents, and 2.9% of adults (p = 0.380). The prevalence of myopia in females (23.6%) was significantly higher than in males (14.6%, p = 0.018). The difference between the self-reported and the refractive error reported by their opticians was very small and was not significant (p = 0.850).

Conclusion: In Germany, the prevalence of myopia seems to be somewhat lower than in Asia and Europe. There are few comparable studies concerning the prevalence rates of hyperopia.

Keywords: Germany, hyperopia, incidence, myopia, prevalence








Readers of this article also read:

Colesevelam hydrochloride: reducing atherosclerotic coronary heart disease risk factors
Posterior placoid chorioretinitis: An unusual ocular manifestation of syphilis
Prevalence and risk factors for refractive errors in the South Indian adult population: The Andhra Pradesh Eye disease study
A comparison of manifest refractions, cycloplegic refractions and retinoscopy on the RMA-3000 autorefractometer in children aged 3 to 15 years
Predictability and stability of refraction with increasing optical zone diameter in hyperopic LASIK
Prevalence of refractive error among school children in the Cape Coast Municipality, Ghana
Depressive and adjustment disorders – some questions about the differential diagnosis: case studies
Saxagliptin: the evidence for its place in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus
Music and medicine
Not all partial dopamine D2 receptor agonists are the same in treating schizophrenia. Exploring the effects of bifeprunox and aripiprazole using a computer model of a primate striatal dopaminergic synapse