Data Brief on Children’s Vision Care in Southeastern Pennsylvania Soon to be Released

Many children experience a wide variety of vision impairments that can impede learning and contribute to developmental disabilities.(1) Although many visual health conditions can be corrected through use of eyeglasses or contact lenses, some children who need vision correction treatment do not receive it. (2,3)

This article provides selected findings about access to eye exams and eyeglasses among children ages 4-17 living in the five-county Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) region, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. The data presented come from CHDB’s 2008 Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey. The CHDB will present a more comprehensive analysis of these findings in the forthcoming Data Brief, entitled Children’s Vision Care in Southeastern Pennsylvania, which will be released later this month.

Eye Exams
About one-half of children (45%) ages 4-17 in SEPA received an eye exam from an eye specialist (such as an ophthalmologist or optometrist) in the previous year, representing about 330,000 children. Among the five counties of the SEPA region, Philadelphia had the highest proportion of children who have received a recent eye exam (50%), followed by Chester (46%), Delaware (44%), Montgomery (41%), and Bucks (40%) Counties (Figure 1).

Disparities
Older children are more likely than younger children to have received an eye exam in the previous year. Among children ages 12-17, approximately 54% received a recent eye examination, compared to 38% of children ages 4-11. Girls are more likely than boys to have had an eye exam in the previous year (47% and 43%, respectively). Approximately 50% of Black/African-American children and 50% of Latino children received an eye exam in the previous year, compared to 43% of White children, 35% of Asian children, and 32% of multiracial children. Children living in poverty are more likely to have had a recent eye exam than children living above the Federal Poverty Level (50% and 44%, respectively).

Approximately 46% of children with insurance received a recent eye exam, while 31% of uninsured children did so. Among children with health insurance, one-half (49%) of children with Medicaid, CHIP, and other public insurance received an eye exam in the previous year in contrast to 44% of children with private insurance.

Eyeglasses
Three in ten (31%) children ages 4-17 in our region have been prescribed eyeglasses to correct vision problems, representing about 221,200 children. Black, White, and Latino children are equally likely to have been prescribed glasses (31%); however, Asian children are less likely than other children in our region to have been prescribed glasses (22%). Poor children in SEPA are less likely to have been prescribed eyeglasses than children in households above the Federal Poverty Line (25% and 31%, respectively). Children without health insurance are also less likely to have been prescribed glasses; less than a quarter (24%) of children without medical coverage have been prescribed glasses, compared to 31% of those with insurance.

Additional findings will be available in the forthcoming Data Brief Children’s Vision Care in Southeastern Pennsylvania to be released at the Children’s Dental and Vision Care Forum on October 29. For more information about the Brief and the Forum, please contact Johanna Trowbridge at [email protected].