Methods for a population-based Comprehensive Eye care Workload Assessment (CEWA) study in Southern India
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Date
2023-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
All India Ophthalmological Society
Abstract
Eye care programs, in developing countries, are often planned using the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment, often estimated from Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) surveys. A limitation of this planning approach is that it ignores the annual overall eye care requirements for a given population. Moreover, targets set are arbitrary, often influenced by capacity rather than need. To address this lacunae, we implemented a novel study design to estimate the annual need for comprehensive eye care in a 1.2 million populations. We conducted a population-based longitudinal study in Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India. All permanent residents of all ages were included. We conducted the study in three phases, (i) household-level enumeration and enrollment, (ii) basic eye examination (BEE) at household one-year post-enrollment, and (iii) assessment of eye care utilization and full eye examination (FEE) at central locations. All people aged 40 years and above were invited to the FEE. Those aged <40 years were invited to the FEE if indicated. In the main study, we enrolled 24,327 subjects (58% aged below 40 years and 42% aged 40 years and above). Of those less than 40 years, 72% completed the BEE, of whom 20% were referred for FEE at central location. Of the people aged ?40 years, 70% underwent FEE. Our study design provides insights for appropriate long-term public health intervention planning, resource allocation, effective service delivery, and designing of eye care services for resource-limited settings.
Description
Keywords
Comprehensive eye care, epidemiology, eye diseases, India, prevalence, Tamil Nadu, utilization
Citation
Vardhan Ashok, Rajendran Vinoth Kumar, Joseph Sanil, Pooludaiyar Lakshmanan, Datta Dipankar, Fletcher Astrid E, Ravilla Thulasiraj D. Methods for a population-based Comprehensive Eye care Workload Assessment (CEWA) study in Southern India. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2023 Sep; 71(9): 3246-3254