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Abstract
Methods
The present study included 3,662 subjects who were diagnosed with a cataract by ophthalmic examination out of 11,058 subjects in the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV). Among the 3,662 participants, 944 were aware that they already had a cataract. The sociodemographic disparities in cataract awareness were identified using multivariate analysis.
Results
The mean age of the study population was 65.6 years (standard deviation, 0.2). The awareness calculated based on total weighted population was 24.6% in people over 19 years of age (95% confidence interval, 22.5–26.6%). In multivariate logistic analysis, subjects with higher income, living in a rural area, having a spouse, and binge alcohol use were less likely to be aware of their cataract. In multivariate linear regression analysis after adjusting for confounding factors, there were statistically significant differences of mean in age and monthly house income. Deajeon (11%), and Gwangju (16%) were the lower ranked regions for cataract awareness in Korea.
Conclusions
The cataract awareness in Korea was lower than in other developed countries. Public education and strategies to improve cataract awareness in susceptible people are necessary. More effort is needed to improve cataract awareness based on the Korean society's acceptance of ophthalmologists as in other countries.
References
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Figure 1.
Unadjusted and adjusted mean of cataract awareness for adjusting confounding factors including age, sex, income, education, residential area, lifetime smoker, and binge alcohol user. When we consider one variable as an independent variable, we adjust other confounding factors except that variable. For example, to calculate adjusted mean of cataract awareness between age groups, we adjusted all confounding factors but age. * p < 0.05 in multivariate linear regression.
Figure 2.
Unadjusted mean of cataract awareness according to regions. * The capital city of South Korea.
Table 1.
Characteristic of study population (n = 3,662)
Table 2.
Factors associated with cataract awareness (n = 3,662)
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