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Free eye care in underserved areas may improve disease detection

Key Takeaways

  • A program offering free eye care services in primary care clinics in underserved areas may improve eye disease detection and treatment.
  • According to a commentary on the study, the program appears to have succeeded in bringing eye care to people who are both in high need of eye care and who otherwise were unlikely to receive it.

A program offering free eye care services in primary care clinics in underserved areas may improve eye disease detection and treatment, according to results of a new study. Among 1,171 participants in the study who said they had not had an eye exam in 2 or more years, 21% screened positive for glaucoma, 20% for cataracts, 6% for diabetic retinopathy, and 1% for age-related macular degeneration, reported Paula Anne Newman-Casey, MD, of the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues in JAMA Ophthalmology. 

Of note, many of the patients in the Michigan Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health Through Telemedicine (MI-SIGHT) Program who reported not having had an eye examination in 2 or more years had risk factors for eye disease, including being 65 and older (23%), having self-reported diabetes (33%), having a family history of glaucoma (25%), having self-reported glaucoma (3%) and being Black or African-American and 50 or older (33%). Reported reasons for why participants had not had an eye examination included no insurance (28%), no reason to go (22%), and cost of eye examination (16%).

“Placing a free eye disease screening program in community clinics that serve medically underserved populations is a great way to identify people who would benefit from eye care and a great way to potentially mitigate disparities in eye disease and vision loss in the U.S.,” Newman-Casey told MedPage Today. In an accompanying commentary, John S. Wittenborn and David B. Rein, PhD, of NORC at the University of Chicago, wrote that the program “appears to have succeeded in bringing eye care to people who are both in high need of eye care and who otherwise were unlikely to receive it.”

Edited by Miriam Kaplan, PhD

Source:

Randy Dotinga, MedPage Today, August 22, 2024; see source article