Division of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, MS S106-4, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717. Email:
Division of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2022 Nov 10;19:E70. doi: 10.5888/pcd19.220066.
Adults with vision impairment may have unique needs when accessing health care to maintain good health. Our study examined the relationship between vision status and access to and use of health care.
We analyzed data on adults aged 18 years or older who participated in the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Vision impairment was identified by a yes response to the question "Are you blind or do you have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses?" Survey questions assessed health care access over the past year (having health insurance coverage, a usual health care provider, or unmet health care needs because of cost) and use of health care during that period (routine checkup and dental visit). We estimated age-adjusted prevalence of our outcomes of interest and used bivariate analyses to compare estimates of the outcomes by vision impairment status.
The prevalence of self-reported vision impairment was 5.3%. Compared with adults without impaired vision, adults with vision impairment had a lower prevalence of having health insurance coverage (80.6% vs 87.6%), a usual health care provider (71.9% vs 75.7%), or a dental visit in the past year (52.9% vs 67.2%) and a higher prevalence of having an unmet health care need in the past year because of cost (29.2% vs 12.6%).
Adults with vision impairment reported lower access to and use of health care than those without. Further research can better identify and understand barriers to care to improve access to and use of health care among this population.
视力受损的成年人在维持健康方面可能有独特的医疗保健需求。我们的研究调查了视力状况与获取和使用医疗保健之间的关系。
我们分析了参加 2018 年行为风险因素监测系统的 18 岁及以上成年人的数据。视力障碍是通过对问题“你是否失明或即使戴眼镜也有严重的视力障碍？”的肯定回答来确定的。调查问题评估了过去一年的医疗保健获取情况（是否有医疗保险、常规医疗服务提供者或因费用而无法获得医疗保健）以及在此期间的医疗保健使用情况（常规体检和牙科就诊）。我们估计了我们感兴趣的结果的年龄调整患病率，并使用双变量分析比较了视力障碍状况对结果的估计。
自我报告的视力障碍患病率为 5.3%。与视力正常的成年人相比，视力受损的成年人的医疗保险覆盖率（80.6% vs. 87.6%）、常规医疗服务提供者（71.9% vs. 75.7%）或过去一年的牙科就诊率（52.9% vs. 67.2%）较低，而因费用而过去一年未满足医疗需求的比例（29.2% vs. 12.6%）较高。
视力受损的成年人报告的医疗保健获取和使用情况低于视力正常的成年人。进一步的研究可以更好地确定和理解护理障碍，以改善这一人群的医疗保健获取和使用。
