Queen's University Belfast

Academic Institute

Economic and Social Research Council

Yes

075

Chronic eye conditions (e.g. glaucoma and age-related Macular degeneration AMD) place a heavy burden on the individuals and families affected and on healthcare providers. Free annual eye examinations (provided by community optometrists) aimed at early detection of ocular and other chronic conditions are available for people aged 60 and over in Northern Ireland. Early detection is likely to significantly improve patient prognosis and reduce treatment costs for many of these conditions. The researchers aim to investigate the influences of a range of social factors along with indicators of health, living arrangements and area of residence on uptake of free eye examinations among the over 60s. Contextual data drawn from the 2011 Census, measured at the individual, household and area levels will be linked with records of individual attendance at free eye examinations over a four year period centred on the 2011 Census. The project will pay particular attention to groups identified in previous studies as having low participation in routine health screening and will also investigate whether area of residence has an additional influence on uptake. Identification of groups and areas associated with low uptake of free eye examinations is a first step towards designing interventions to increase uptake with the aim of ameliorating the impact of common conditions on the ocular health of the general population.

Sight-threatening eye conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma and uncorrected refractive error are a serious burden on the Health and Social Care service and society in general. This burden may be reduced if conditions are detected early through free annual eye examinations and treated in a timely manner. Identifying factors that influence uptake of free eye examinations may indicate areas in which interventions designed to increase uptake would be beneficial and might increase early detection rates. Should this project identify novel risk factors or groups at elevated risk it is hoped that the findings would form the basis of a larger study to investigate potential interventions to increase uptake, in partnership with community optometrists and other eye-care professionals.

02/08/2016

TRE