Screening for visual acuity loss (VAL) is not applied systematically because of uncertain
recommendations based on observations from affordable countries. Our study aimed to
evaluate the effectiveness of primary health care-based screening. A cross-sectional
investigation was carried out among adults who did not wear glasses and did not visit
an ophthalmologist in a year (N = 2070). The risk factor role of sociodemographic
factors and the cardiometabolic status for hidden VAL was determined by multivariable
linear regression models. The prevalence of unknown VAL of at least 0.5 was 3.7% and
9.1% in adults and in the above-65 population. Female sex (b = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.35;
2.18), age (b = 0.15, 0.12; 0.19), and Roma ethnicity (b = 2.60, 95% CI: 1.22; 3.97)
were significant risk factors. Higher than primary school (bsecondaryschoolwithoutgraduation
= −2.06, 95% CI: −3.64; −0.47; and bsecondaryschoolwithgraduation = −2.08, 95% CI:
−3.65; −0.51), employment (b = −1.33, 95% CI: −2.25; 0.40), and properly treated diabetes
mellitus (b = −2.84, 95% CI: −5.08; −0.60) were protective factors. Above 65 years,
female sex (b = 3.85, 95% CI: 0.50; 7.20), age (b = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.10; 0.67), Roma
ethnicity (b = 24.79, 95% CI: 13.83; 35.76), and untreated diabetes (b = 7.30, 95%
CI: 1.29; 13.31) were associated with VAL. Considering the huge differences between
the health care and the population’s social status of the recommendation-establishing
countries and Hungary which represent non-high-income countries, the uncertain recommendation
of VAL screening should not discourage general practitioners from organizing population-based
screening for VAL in non-affordable populations.
