Eye care utilisation patterns in a rural county in Ireland: implications for service delivery

Abstract

Aims/background-This investigation determined eye care utilisation patterns in a rural county in Ireland. Population based estimates of visual impairment and glaucoma were available, so the two studies will optimise planning for eye care services for the county. Methods-Roscommon has a population of 55 000 served by one ophthalmologist and two optometrists. Data were collected on all outpatient visits for all providers for a 3 month period. Information was abstracted on demographics, presenting and final diagnoses. Expected number of visits for glaucoma were calculated using the population structure and rates of glaucoma, and assuming one visit per year per glaucoma patient. Results-1398 patients had a total of 1442 visits in 3 months. A third of the visits were to optometrists, and all but 21 visits were for normal eye examinations or glasses. The majority of children aged less than 16 years, and people older than 60 years were seen by the ophthalmologist. Among children, 81% of all visits were to the ophthalmologist and 92% were classified as a normal examination. Only an estimated 188 visits per year for glaucoma were observed, compared with 1100 expected. Conclusion-In this rural county, many of the visits to the ophthalmologist were for normal eye examination, particularly among children. Screening algorithms which would free the ophthalmologist to see more complicated problems could be considered. There is an underutilisation of services by glaucoma patients. Reasons for this are described. (Br J Ophthalmol 1997;81:972-975)

Prevalence and causes of ocular morbidity seen among rural adult population of Osun State, southwest Nigeria

“…This corroborates the report of Fotouhi [7] who in a study on eye care utilization in Tehran population in 2006 reported that more women sought eye care than men. Hassan et al also corroborated the same thing in a similar environment in the same region although a hospitalbased study, [8] while Clendenin [9] in 1997 reported that no significant difference between genders was found in terms of eye services utilization. [9] The age group below 45 years was more than the others probably because they are more active.…”

“…Hassan et al also corroborated the same thing in a similar environment in the same region although a hospitalbased study, [8] while Clendenin [9] in 1997 reported that no significant difference between genders was found in terms of eye services utilization. [9] The age group below 45 years was more than the others probably because they are more active. The age group over 65 years was next.…”

Health Seeking Behaviours of Patients Attending Primary Eye Care Centre in Nigeria

“…It was suggested that this might be due to the health seeking priorities in relation to age in rural areas, as age influenced the decision to seek health. However, the reports on the effect of gender on eye care utilization have been inconsistent [22] [23]. The current study showed no gender difference in the use of HTEMs and eye health seeking attitude.…”

Bilateral Blindness: Prevalence and Their Utilization of Existing Eye Care Facilities in a Nigerian Rural Community

“…Glendenin et al [20] reported equal utilization among gender in an Irish rural population, and Resnikoff et al [11] in a report on behalf of World Health Organization averred that men seek eye care more than women while Lewallen et al reported that women are more likely to seek eye care than men [7]. The relationship between gender and utilization of eye care services in our study is in agreement with reports of Resnikoff et al Despite a 4% prevalence of bilateral blindness in the study population, more than half of the blind never utilized eye care service.…”