The assessment of modern eye care screening models in cataract and refractive error in rural Northeast China

: validity and uptake using mobile health technology

Abstract

Precision diagnosis and prediction are the prerequisite and key to treating and preventing vision impairment in children and adolescents and blind eye disease caused by cataracts in middle-aged and older people. This paper is based on three different types of vision screening devices: hand-held slit-lamp (iSpector), intelligent electronic vision test chart and vision screening device (Kaleidos). The research includes the positive detection rate of patients with cataracts and the referral rate at the grassroots. The vision status of teenagers of all ages in 13 urban areas of Liaoning Province. To explore whether the traditional ophthalmic vision impairment screening process could be improved in terms of efficiency and convenience using Kaleidos, a portable autorefractor.

From November 2018 to October 2019, grassroots doctors from Faku County, a low-income county in Liaoning Province, were selected as the research test site.After the intervention, the PDR and RR of eye diseases in the study group were higher than that of last year (P0.05).In 2020,the overall prevalence of total myopia among the 489,690 children and teenagers from 13 cities in Liaoning Province assessed according to valid UDVA data collected was found to be 56.79%.From the 39,432 valid refraction data points collected, the prevalence of total myopia was found to be 68.6%. In the “alternative refraction analysis study”, the refractive error of children Kaleidos was consistent in comparison with the "GS" method. The portable slit lamp in this study brings positive and significance impact to rural primary eye health services.The results showed that the detection rate of VI in 13 cities of Liaoning Province was higher than that of China national average level, indicating the importance of preschool vision screening for children and adolescents. Kaleidos in comparison to the GS was found to be reliable.

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Lynne Lohfeld (Supervisor) & Nathan Congdon (Supervisor)