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Research highlights for October 2022

Published: 1 November 2022 at 15:00

Find out about research published by members of ARU's Vision and Eye Research Institute (VERI) in October 2022.

Haakenstad et al. (1) examined health-care access and quality (HAQ) by assessing performance for the first time for three select age groups: the young (ages 0–14 years), working (ages 15–64 years), and post-working (ages 65–74 years) groups in 204 locations from 1990 to 2019.

The authors found that between 1990 and 2019, the HAQ Index increased overall (by 19·6 points), as well as among the young (22·5), working (17·2), and post-working (15·1) age groups.

Large differences in HAQ Index scores were present across Socio-demographic Index (SDI) levels in 2019, with the overall index ranging from 30·7 (28·6–33·0) on average in low-SDI countries to 83·4 (82·4–84·3) on average in high-SDI countries.

Population-based studies were used to establish estimates of effective refractive error coverage (eREC) among adults aged 50 years and older in Bourne et al. (2).

The authors analysed data from 565,448 participants of 169 population-based eye surveys conducted since 2000 to calculate eREC, and found that global distance eREC increased from 2000 to 2021 by 19·0%, with eREC being higher in men and reduced with increasing age.

The analysis highlighted inequitable access to high-quality refractive services among women and older persons.

References

1. Haakenstad, A., Yearwood, J. A., Fullman, N., Bintz, C., Bienhoff, K., Weaver, M. R. et al., (Pardhan, S.), 2022. Assessing performance of the Healthcare Access and Quality Index, overall and by select age groups, for 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet Global Health. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00429-6

2. Bourne, R. R. A., Cicinelli, M. V., Sedighi, T., Tapply, I. H., McCormick, I., Jonas, J. B. et al., 2022. Effective refractive error coverage in adults aged 50 years and older: estimates from population-based surveys in 61 countries. The Lancet Global Health. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00433-8