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David J. Lee, PhD; Byron L. Lam, MD; Sahel Arora, BS; Kristopher L. Arheart, EdD; Kathryn E. McCollister, PhD; D. Diane Zheng, MS; Sharon L. Christ, MS; Evelyn P. Davila, MPH

Arch Ophthalmol. 2009;127(3):303-310.

Objectives  To estimate prevalence and correlates of eye care utilization by means of data from the National Health Interview Survey.

Methods  Nearly 290 000 adults 18 years or older participated in the survey from 1997 through 2005. Eye care utilization was based on self-reported contact with an eye care professional in the past year. Participants were classified by level of visual impairment based on response to 2 questions. The survey and logistic regression procedures in SAS statistical software were used to compute 1997 through 2005 pooled eye care utilization rates and to identify correlates of utilization.

Results  Overall eye care utilization rates were 58.3%, 49.6%, and 33.7%, respectively, for participants with severe, some, and no visual impairment; rates for respondents without health insurance were 35.9%, 23.8%, and 14.3%, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analyses completed in racial/ethnic and age category subgroups indicated that no reported visual impairment, lack of health insurance, male sex, and low education were associated with low eye care utilization rates.

Conclusions  Interventions designed to increase eye care utilization rates in select sociodemographic subgroups are needed. Overall utilization rates may also be enhanced if progress is made toward dramatically increasing the number of Americans with health insurance.

Author Affiliations: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Drs Lee and Lam) and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (Drs Lee, Arheart, and McCollister; Mr Arora; and Mss Zheng and Davila), University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida; and Odum Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Ms Christ).

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