Age of first distance spectacle prescription for manifest hyperopia.

PURPOSE

This study explores the natural history of hyperopic refractive error in relation to the recalled age of first distance prescription.

METHODS

A population of adult office workers, coming for a general health check-up without refractive selection, completed a questionnaire about age of first distance prescription and were refracted by an ophthalmologist with non-cycloplegic subjective procedures. Hyperopia was defined as a spherical equivalent of +0.75 diopters or more. This study included 145 hyperopes aged 50-65 years at interview.

RESULTS

The hyperopic subjects were first prescribed spectacles for distance vision in a broad spectrum of ages, from early childhood to adulthood. The subjects with older ages of first prescription tended to develop lower amounts of refractive error but this relation was not significant (Spearman's rho -0.126, p = 0.131).

CONCLUSIONS

The age of first spectacle prescription in hyperopes is not strongly related to the final refractive error developed in adulthood.