Lay summary
The proposed research aims to analyse the cost-effectiveness of introducing a myopia screening programme in New Zealand. WHO estimates that 2.2 billion people worldwide live with visual impairment and 42% of it is associated with uncorrected refractive error. In New Zealand, 55% of the total cases of vision loss are due to uncorrected refractive-error. The four common refractive errors are; myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), astigmatism and presbyopia.
Most distance refractive error is caused by myopia; WHO estimated that 27% of people worldwide were myopic in 2010, which is expected to increase to 52% by 2050. The cost of care is also likely to increase significantly and will be exacerbated by an even greater increase in the prevalence of high myopia, from 2.8% (190 million people) to 9.7% (924 million people) by 2050. This study involves a cost-effective analysis of establishing a myopia screening programme in New Zealand.