Distribution of refractive errors in patients from Dominica, West Indies

A total of 779 consecutive private patients requiring spectacles for correction of refractive errors were categorized according to age, sex, occupation and type of refractive error. Virtually all patients (97.1%) were black. The relationship between age, sex, occupation and refractive error was determined and showed that refractive errors were approximately equally distributed between the sexes, but myopia was more common among those with nearpoint occupations. Data also showed that more of the elderly were hyperopic than myopic in contrast to the younger patients who were more often myopic.