Rates of Primary Care Physician Vision Testing Examined in Children

Aug 22, 2023

MONDAY, Aug. 21, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The rate of primary care physician (PCP) vision testing is about 30 percent for children aged 3 to 17 years and is lower for uninsured and publicly insured children, according to a research letter published online Aug. 17 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Olivia J. Killeen, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues pooled data from the 2018 to 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health to examine PCP vision testing rates for U.S. children aged 3 to 17 years and the association between vision testing and insurance status. A total of 89,936 participants were included in the sample (mean age, 10.1 years).

The researchers found that an estimated 30.7 percent of the participants received PCP vision testing. The adjusted odds of vision testing were reduced for uninsured and publicly insured participants compared with those with private insurance (odds ratios, 0.59 and 0.76, respectively). The adjusted estimated probability of PCP vision testing was 22.0, 26.6, and 32.3 percent for uninsured, publicly insured, and privately insured participants, respectively. Among children aged 3 to 5 years, the estimated probability of PCP vision testing was 29.7, 35.2, and 41.6 percent for uninsured, publicly insured, and privately insured children, respectively.

“Results of this analysis build on studies reporting an association between insurance status and unmet eye care needs,” the authors write. “Future work should focus on improving PCP vision screening rates, especially for the 3-to-5-year age group.”

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