Geospatial analysis of blindness within rural and urban counties.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To determine the associations of blindness within rural and urban counties using a registry of blind persons and geospatial analytics.

Methods

We used the Oregon Commission for the Blind registry to determine the number of persons who are legally blind, as well as licensure data to determine the density of eye care providers (optometrists and ophthalmologists) within each county of the State of Oregon. We used geospatial statistics, analysis of variance, and logistic regression to determine the explanatory variables associated with blindness within counties.

Results

We included 8350 individuals who are legally blind within the state of Oregon in the calendar year 2015. The mean observed prevalence of registered blindness was 0.21% and ranged almost 9-fold from

SUBMITTER: Sanchez FG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9550029 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature