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| Epidemiologic Research on Eye Diseases: The Shih-Pai Eye Study |
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| 作者：许纹铭（… 文章来源：台湾 Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital & National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 点击数1856 更新时间：2006/7/5 8:16:21 文章录入：chenyouxin 责任编辑：毛进 |
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Background and Purpose:
Taiwan has become an aging society since 1994. However, few population-based data about visual impairment and eye diseases of the elderly are available. The Shihpai Eye Study, conducted by the Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital in collaboration with the Community Medicine Research Center of National Yang-Ming University aimed to provide a basic understanding of the prevalence and risk factors for visual impairment and eye diseases in our elderly population. This information serve as a basis for the establishment of eye health care system in Taiwan.
Methods:
The study was conducted between July, 1999 and December, 2000. Residents at least 65 years of age in Shihpai community before 1999 were identified. Our target was to recruit a sample of about 2,000 residents (participants 1,361; 822 male, 539 female) for a comprehensive standardized ophthalmic examination and the data was analyzed.
Results:
(1) rate of blindness was estimated to be 0.59%; rate of low vision was estimated to be 2.94%; (2) the three main causes of visual impairment in the elderly are: cataract, myopic macular degeneration and age-related macular degeneration; (3) prevalence of cataract: 59.2%; (4) prevalence of dry eye: 23.5%; (5) the risk of depression was 2.11 times among the elderly with visual impairment compared to those without visual impairment ; (6) elderly with a best-corrected Snellen visual acuity of 6/60 or less in the better eye was twice more likely to experience falls compared to those with best-corrected visual acuity of 6/12 or better in the better eye (7) visual impairment was associated with lower quality of life and use of eye care services was associated with better quality of life.
Discussion and summary:
The Shihpai Eye Study was the first population-based study of eye diseases among the elderly in Taiwan as well as in Asia. In contrast to the western countries, myopic macular degeneration was identified as one of the three main causes of low vision in the elderly. On the other hand, the prevalence of dry eye was noted to be 23.5% which was relatively higher than that reported for whites.
The Shihpai Eye Study focused on epidemiologic research of eye diseases of the elderly in Taiwan. This was the first population-based study in Asia to assess the impact of visual impairment in the elderly. The series of report (10 published manuscripts ) identified risk factors for various eye diseases and serve to compare with other population-based studies in the United States, Australia and Europe. Our findings serve as an important reference for future planning of eye health care policies and programs for the prevention of blindness in Taiwan. Academically, this study provides an in depth analysis of visual impairment and eye diseases in our elderly population.
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