Knowledge and beliefs associated with refractive errors and undercorrection: The Singapore malay eye study

Abstract

Background/aims: Refractive errors, especially if undercorrected, are a common and important cause of poor vision, particularly in Asia. The knowledge and beliefs of refractive errors and possible impact of undercorrection in a population-based study in Singapore are described. Methods: This study was a substudy on 503 subjects with refractive error from a population-based survey of 3280 adult Malays in Singapore aged 40 to 80 years. The Health Belief Model was used to develop a questionnaire, subjects with refractive errors were evaluated on their health beliefs towards adopting health-seeking behaviour for correction of refractive error, and the responses were compared between undercorrected subjects and subjects with corrected refractive errors. Results: Of persons with myopia, 79.5% had heard of myopia, 79.2% of hyperopes had heard of hyperopia, while only 7.7% of those with astigmatism had heard of astigmatism. Adults who had never previously visited an eye-care specialist were less likely to have heard of astigmatism and to know that they have refractive error (p