by Daniel Parker, RDPFS Contributor:
A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has linked the use of glasses in patients with presbyopia, or age-related farsightedness, with measurable gains in productivity and income. Presbyopia, “affecting 1.8 billion people globally,” progressively worsens from age 40 to age 55. In this study, a survey was conducted in 59 villages in Bangladesh to find patients whose vision loss could be corrected with reading glasses. One group received glasses immediately, while the control group was given glasses after an additional eight months. The study found that the average monthly income for the group who received glasses immediately increased by 33.4 percent. In an NPR article on the study, Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. David Freedman said of the results, “This is the first time we can really say that something that will improve [someone’s] quality of life from a visual standpoint will also help with poverty alleviation, which is an enormous finding.” Though the study notes that “presbyopia is safely, effectively, and inexpensively corrected with eyeglasses,” it is in fact much easier to obtain these in the higher-income countries, despite relatively low cost. Dr. Nathan Congdon, ophthalmologist and Chair of Global Eye Health at Queen’s University Belfast and co-author of the study, explained: “In a lot of low- and middle-income countries, glasses are still tightly regulated… I wouldn’t be recommending that we just hand out distance glasses, but I do think that for near [vision] glasses that’s a reasonable thing to do.” Dr. Congdon spoke further about the researchers’ efforts to train health workers in Bangladesh to administer eye care and deliver glasses effectively. “The glasses themselves cost about maybe $3-4. And using village health workers, we can make the cost of delivery very inexpensive as well. So the whole thing can really just be a handful of dollars to deliver something that’s potentially quite life changing.” More information can be found about this study at the links above.
