age- and gender-specific prevalences of refractive errors in an elderly population in mashhad

purpose: to determine the prevalence of refractive errors among elderly residents of mashhad during 2006 based on age and gender. methods: through proportionate cluster random sampling, urban residents of mashhad aged 55 years or more were invited to attend the vision clinic of mashhad medical university for an eye examination including autorefraction and subjective refraction. results: of 1,540 invited persons, 1,440 persons (response rate= 92.5%) participated in the study of whom 1,367 individuals including 883 (64.6%) male and 484 (35.4%) female subjects with mean age of 63.7±7.1 (range 55-92) years were examined. the prevalence of myopia was 27.2% (95% confidence interval [ci], 24.8-29.5%) overall, 29.6% in men and 22.5% in women (p<0.001). the rate of myopia showed an increase with age (p<0.001). the prevalence of hyperopia was 51.6% (95%ci, 48.9%-54.3%) overall, 48.3% in men and 57.6 in women (p<0.001). the rate of hyperopia showed a significant decrease with age (p=0.009). the overall prevalence of astigmatism was 37.5% (95% ci, 34.9-40.0%). conclusion: refractive errors are a major issue among the elderly and their prevalence rates varies greatly depending on age and gender.