EVALUATION OF SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE REFRACTION AGREEMENTS IN MYOPIC INDIVIDUALS REFERRED TO RAZMJOU-MOGHADDAM CLINIC IN ZAHEDAN, 2018

Background & Refraction, which is an essential component of vision care, is the determination of the amount of refractive error in the eyes. According to the existence of deprivation in different regions and the high prevalence of myopia, this study aimed to estimate and compare the agreement among three refraction methods including subjective and objective (autorefraction and retinoscopy).
Materials & This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 80 myopic individuals (160 eyes) referred to Razmjou-Moghaddam Clinic in Zahedan City from April to July in 2018 using a convenience sampling method. Visual acuity was first measured with a Snellen chart with and without correction and then the refractive error was determined by subjective refraction method using trial frame and objective refraction by autorefraction and retinoscope. The agreement between the parameters of sphere and astigmatism and the astigmatism axis between the three methods was calculated using the intra-class correlation coefficient index. P-value less than 5% was considered as a significant level.
The mean age was 23.0±4.1 years. Most of the participants were female (70%). Also, most of them were students (87.5%). Participants had, on average, 0.6±2.8 hours of near-eye work per day. The agreements between the three methods in measuring the spherical power of refractive errors, power, and cylinder axis were estimated to be 99%, 89%, and 69%, respectively, which were statistically significant (p<0.001). Furthermore, the mean power of the sphere was estimated to be more negative by the autorefraction method than the subjective refraction and retinoscope.
According to the high prevalence of myopia, the existence of deprivation in different regions of Sistan-and-Baluchestan province, and based on the available facilities, it seems that the subjective refraction method can be used as an alternative to objective refraction methods for evaluation of the refractive errors.