Prevalence, Risk Determinants, and Burden of Undiagnosed Age-Related Eye Diseases Among Older Asian Adults

While population-based surveys have identified a high prevalence of undiagnosed eye diseases among Asian adults, these studies were conducted more than a decade ago, and there is a paucity of contemporary data.

To determine the contemporary prevalence of undiagnosed age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), cataracts, and glaucoma and their shared risk determinants and to evaluate these conditions' patient-centered and economic burden in a large multiethnic cohort of older Asian adults.

This cross-sectional cohort study was conducted among individuals from the Population Health and Eye Disease Profile in Elderly Singaporeans study (PIONEER-1, conducted from December 2017 to November 2022), a population-based cohort of community-dwelling individuals of Chinese, Malay, and Indian ethnicity aged 60 years or older living in Singapore. Data analysis was performed from April 2024 to December 2024.

The 4 eye diseases were diagnosed clinically by a study ophthalmologist; participants were considered undiagnosed if no prior physician diagnosis or related interventions were reported.

One primary outcome, visual impairment (VI), was assessed clinically using the logMAR chart at 4 m by certified optometrists, while key patient-centered and economic outcomes were assessed using validated questionnaires.

This study was conducted among 1878 individuals from the PIONEER-1 study, among whom mean (SD) age was 72.7 (8.3) years and 1013 participants (53.9%) were female. A total of 742 participants (weighted prevalence: 35.8%) had at least 1 type of undiagnosed eye disease, with 650 participants (87.6%), 87 participants (11.7%), and 5 participants (0.7%) having 1, 2, and 3 conditions, respectively. Among individuals with AMD, DR, cataracts, or glaucoma, the weighted prevalences of undiagnosed disease were 89.8%, 89.8%, 40.8%, and 48.1%, respectively. Younger age (odds ratio [OR], 1.08 per year decrease; 95% CI, 1.06-1.10; P < .001), wearing multifocal glasses (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.19-2.59; P = .005), and Malay (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.21-2.43; P = .003) and Indian (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.00-2.04; P = .05) ethnicities compared with Chinese individuals were associated with greater odds of having undiagnosed eye disease. Individuals with undiagnosed eye diseases reported -1.97% to -4.57% lower scores in health- and vision-related quality of life, as well as a greater likelihood of having VI (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.68-3.61; P < .001). Additionally, undiagnosed individuals incurred 1.73-fold higher health care expenditures compared with those who were diagnosed (diagnosed: reference; undiagnosed: OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.06-2.84; P = .03).

In this cross-sectional cohort study, the rates of undiagnosed age-related eye diseases were relatively high, and these conditions were associated with poorer patient-centered outcomes and greater health care expenditure. These results support the use of community eye screening services and health awareness campaigns targeted toward individuals at the lower end of the older than 60 years spectrum and those of Malay and Indian ethnicities to mitigate the detrimental effects of undiagnosed eye diseases in these individuals.