To determine the prevalence of myopia and hyperopia and related factors in underserved rural areas in Iran

In this cross-sectional study, two rural regions were randomly selected in the north and south of the country through multi-stage cluster sampling. After selecting samples, all participants had non-cycloplegic refraction and measurement of uncorrected and corrected visual acuity. Cycloplegic refraction was performed for those 20 years of age or younger

3314 of the 3851 invitees participated in the study and 3271 participants were examined. The overall prevalence of myopia and hyperopia in this study was 23% (95%CI: 19.6 -26.4) and 21.59% (95% CI: 17.92 -25.26), respectively. In those ≤20 years of age, the prevalence of myopia and hyperopia based on cycloplegic refraction was 5.69% (95% CI: 4.42-6.96) and 3.25% (95% CI: 1.49-5.02), respectively. In over 20-year-olds, these values were 29.47% (95% CI: 26.26-32.68) and 28.44% (95% CI: 24.40-32.49), respectively. Multiple logistic regression models indicted that myopia prevalence significantly correlated with age, education level, cataracts, and region of residence, and hyperopia prevalence correlated with age and region of residence

In our study, the prevalence of hyperopia and myopia was lower compared to other studies in urban areas of Iran, but overall, hyperopia has a high prevalence in our study and other Iranian studies. The prevalence of refractive errors significantly differs between northern and southern rural regions of Iran