analyse the article: the prevalence and causes of vision loss in indigenous Australian: the national indigenous eye health survey

Summary of the article

The core focus of the review is on “The prevalence and causes of vision loss in Indigenous Australians: the National Indigenous Eye Health Survey” which has been conducted by Taylor et al. (2010). The occurrence of eye related impairments and visual loss has been witnessed more in Aboriginal Australians, which has been considered as motivation to conduct underlying research, with an aim to explore the extent to which vision loss prevails among indigenous Australia, along with exploration of its causes. The study has made comparison between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, by measuring Visual Acuity (VA), visual field testing, trachoma grading and lens photography. 

Adopted Methodology and its appropriateness

The insight from Australian Indigenous Geographical Classification was used from the census of 2006 to identify the indigenous geographical areas and regions. Based on the data, five major stratums were identified, which were named as; major city, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote. From these stratums, selection of five areas was made on random selection basis. In order to reach the geographical community size of about 300 indigenous Australia, few smaller community areas were merged together. The initial target sample of indigenous people included both children as well as adults, whereby children of 5 to 15 years of age were 2007, and adults with age of 40 years and above were 1655. On the other hand, sample of indigenous Australians was drawn from 6 remote locations and only 163 adults aging 40 years and above were chosen to constitute initial target sample.  

In order to obtain demographic data, self-administered questionnaire was used with the aid of interpreters, which was followed by the eye examination of all individuals. The eye examination has encompassed the testing of visual acuity and field assessment with Humphrey frequency doubling technology (FDT). Likewise, diagnosis for Trachoma, fundal photographs and glaucoma was also conducted. The arrangements of treatment as well as for referrals was made throughout the examination process. The collection of demographic data and eye examinations were performed in the light of ethical standards, as ethics approval was obtained from Human Research Ethics Committee of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, board of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization and other relevant entities. Two different methods of analysis were used for categorical and continuous variables. The categorical data was measured using Chi-sqaure test, while in order to measure continuous data, Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test or Student t-test was used. 

The chosen methodology has allowed the researchers to gain access to national level data, which has made it highly generalizable study as national scope is difficult to accomplish. On the other hand, the stratified sampling design has allowed to seek required level of variability in the sample and lowered biases in the data collection (Taylor, Boudville & Anjou, 2012).