The Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among Adults in the United States,Western Europe, and Australia

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of refractive errors in persons 40 yearsand older.

Methods

Counts of persons with phakic eyes with and without spherical equivalentrefractive error in the worse eye of +3 diopters (D) or greater, −1D or less, and −5 D or less were obtained from population-based eyesurveys in strata of gender, race/ethnicity, and 5-year age intervals. Pooledage-, gender-, and race/ethnicity–specific rates for each refractiveerror were applied to the corresponding stratum-specific US, Western European,and Australian populations (years 2000 and projected 2020).

Results

Six studies provided data from 29 281 persons. In the US, WesternEuropean, and Australian year 2000 populations 40 years or older, the estimatedcrude prevalence for hyperopia of +3 D or greater was 9.9%, 11.6%, and 5.8%,respectively (11.8 million, 21.6 million, and 0.47 million persons). For myopiaof −1 D or less, the estimated crude prevalence was 25.4%, 26.6%, and16.4% (30.4 million, 49.6 million, and 1.3 million persons), respectively,of whom 4.5%, 4.6%, and 2.8% (5.3 million, 8.5 million, and 0.23 million persons),respectively, had myopia of −5 D or less. Projected prevalence ratesin 2020 were similar.

Conclusions

Refractive errors affect approximately one third of persons 40 yearsor older in the United States and Western Europe, and one fifth of Australiansin this age group.