Ocular health screening among care-center residents with disabilities: a smartphone adaptive fundus camera cross-sectional study

I.E. Ay, F. Kose

Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. ibrahimethemay@windowslive.com

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• Epidemiology
• Ophthalmology

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ocular health of care-center residents with disabilities who have difficulty accessing health care using a novel smartphone-adapted fundus camera device, and to compare the results to age- and gender-matched health subjects.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 47 care-center residents with disabilities were investigated between October 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021. A control group was made up of healthy volunteers. All participants underwent a comprehensive ocular exam, which included measuring visual acuity and assessing dry eye with Schirmer and tear break-up time tests. The posterior segment was examined using a smartphone-adapted fundus camera. The data gathered was compared with statistical significance between the two groups.

RESULTS: The mean ages of disabled and healthy participants were 59.7±15.2 and 56.6±15.0 years, respectively (p=0.305). While 11.1% of the 36 visually impaired participants were legally blind, the percentage among healthy subjects was only 3.7% (p=0.168). In comparison to healthy participants, disabled people had statistically significantly higher rates of dry eye (27.7%), senile macular degeneration (23.4%), and cataracts (29.8%) (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Screening for ocular health with a novel smartphone-adapted fundus camera revealed significantly higher rates of various ocular diseases in care center disabled residents. Given technological progress, remote control method-assisted ocular exams appear to be potentially feasible and clinically beneficial. This could allow trained allied health personnel to perform ocular health screenings without the need to transport a disabled person to the hospital. Thus, diagnosis and follow-up of various chronic ocular diseases may be properly organized.

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