Prevalence and pattern of refractive errors among Saudi adults

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Refractive Errors (RE) are responsible for major portion of the treatable visual impairment and avoidable blindness in the world. The prevalence of RE varies with age, gender, ethnicity, geographical locations and also from time to time due to progresse in eye care services. We aimed to study the prevalence of RE and assess their patterns among Saudi adults of Arar city, the capital of Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, population-based study. A total number of 966 Saudi adults aged 16 to 39 years were enrolled. The patterns of their RE were studied through auto-refraction evaluation. RESULTS: The prevalence of RE was 45.8%. The most frequent type of RE was myopia in 24.4%, followed by hyperopia 11.9% and astigmatism in 9.5% cases. Ages and genders significantly affect the prevalence of the different patterns of RE (0.033 and 0.012, respectively). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of RE in Arar city is slightly lower than that previously published in the same targeted age group. Myopia is the main RE. More awareness programs, especially among young adults are recommended for better outcomes.