Refractive errors and the uniform patient fee scheme at a public hospital in South Africa

Background: Uniform Patient Fee Scheme (UPFS) refers to the healthcare subsidy levels provided by public hospitals in South Africa. Such subsidies indirectly reflect socio-economic factors and thus potentially might impact upon distributions of refractive error. Aim: To investigate refractive errors based on the UPFS-classified records of patients consulted at an Optometry Clinic between January 2018 and December 2019. This will provide frequencies and other measures, possibly providing preliminary estimates of prevalences for the wider population for the region concerned. Setting: The study was conducted at Sekororo Hospital in Limpopo province. Methods: Data for UPFS and refractive errors (via subjective refraction) were collected retrospectively based on the archived clinical records. Statistics and Data Analysis (Stata) software was used to analyse data. Results: For H0 in the right eyes means (± s.d.) for myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism were −2.04 ± 2.60, 1.38 ± 1.72, and −1.07 ± 0.64, respectively. For H0 (left eyes): Myopia (−2.04 ± 2.09), hyperopia (1.47 ± 1.73), and astigmatism (−1.04 ± 0.64). For H1 (right eyes): Myopia (−1.79 ± 1.50), hyperopia (1.06 ± 0.72), and astigmatism (−1.14 ± 0.81). For H1 (left eyes): myopia (−1.71 ± 1.46), hyperopia (1.24 ± 0.91), and astigmatism (−1.71 ± 0.74). (No records were found for H2, H3, or private patients.) Conclusion: Hyperopia and astigmatism were the most common in H0 records while myopia was the most common in H1. Contribution: Various authorities and others in South Africa might use this data and results for National Health Insurance planning policies and implementation purposes.