Prevalence of Spectacle Wear and Incidence of Refractive Error in USAF Aircrew.

摘要

A retrospective survey of 6,5000 active aircrew records was performed at 12 U.S. Air Force bases to determine the prevalence of spectacle wear and the incidence of refractive error. The data revealed that 27.4% of pilots, 51.5% of navigators/weapons systems operators, and 40.2% of other aircrew members were required to wear spectacles when flying. Of those pilots who wear spectacles, 12.4% require bifocals. The refractive data showed that myopia was the predominant refractive error, and that relatively large percentages of air-crew members had astigmatism of 0.75 diopters or more; e.g., 33.1% of pilots. Refractive data at the time of entry into the U.S. Air Force was clustered around emmetropia with a definite skew toward hyperopia. Keywords: Spectacle wear; Refractive error; Myopia; Age; Pilots; Aircrew; Navigators; Weapons system operators; Bifocals; Astigmatism; Hyperopia; Visual acuity; U.S. Air Force Academy; AFROTC; OTS. (kt)