The Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among Adults in the United States,Western Europe, and Australia

<h3>Objective</h3> To estimate the prevalence of refractive errors in persons 40 yearsand older. <h3>Methods</h3> Counts of persons with phakic eyes with and without spherical equivalentrefractive error in the worse eye of +3 diopters (D) or greater, −1D or less, and −5 D or less were obtained from population-based eyesurveys in strata of gender, race/ethnicity, and 5-year age intervals. Pooledage-, gender-, and race/ethnicity–specific rates for each refractiveerror were applied to the corresponding stratum-specific US, Western European,and Australian populations (years 2000 and projected 2020). <h3>Results</h3> Six studies provided data from 29 281 persons. In the US, WesternEuropean, and Australian year 2000 populations 40 years or older, the estimatedcrude prevalence for hyperopia of +3 D or greater was 9.9%, 11.6%, and 5.8%,respectively (11.8 million, 21.6 million, and 0.47 million persons). For myopiaof −1 D or less, the estimated crude prevalence was 25.4%, 26.6%, and16.4% (30.4 million, 49.6 million, and 1.3 million persons), respectively,of whom 4.5%, 4.6%, and 2.8% (5.3 million, 8.5 million, and 0.23 million persons),respectively, had myopia of −5 D or less. Projected prevalence ratesin 2020 were similar. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Refractive errors affect approximately one third of persons 40 yearsor older in the United States and Western Europe, and one fifth of Australiansin this age group.