Table 3. Multivariable analysis of factors associated with treatment of refractive error in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
| Non-Indigenous Australians (n = 1900) | Indigenous Australians (n = 670) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associated factors | Univariate | Multivariable | Univariate | Multivariable | ||||
| OR† (95% CI) | p* | OR† (95% CI) | p* | OR† (95% CI) | p* | OR† (95% CI) | p* | |
| Age (10 years) | 1.10 (0.85–1.43) | 0.45 | 1.17 (0.89–1.55) | 0.24 | 0.97 (0.70–1.35) | 0.85 | 1.04 (0.70–1.53) | 0.86 |
| Gender (male) | 0.85 (0.56–1.28) | 0.42 | 0.86 (0.54–1.37) | 0.52 | 0.98 (0.55–1.77) | 0.95 | 1.04 (0.57–1.89) | 0.90 |
| Education (years) | 1.72 (0.76–3.93) | 0.19 | 1.97 (0.81–4.81) | 0.13 | 2.68 (1.33–5.42) | 0.008 | 2.53 (0.90–7.15) | 0.08 |
| English at home | 1.00 (0.49–2.05) | 0.99 | 0.55 (0.22–1.36) | 0.19 | 4.37 (1.22–15.67) | 0.03 | 2.72 (1.13–6.45) | 0.03 |
| Ethnicity‡ | ||||||||
| Oceanian | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | ||
| European | 1.01 (0.55–1.85) | 0.97 | 1.02 (0.56–1.86) | 0.94 | - | - | - | - |
| Others | 1.01 (0.40–2.58) | 0.98 | 0.78 (0.23–2.68) | 0.68 | - | - | - | - |
| Remoteness | ||||||||
| Major City | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Inner Regional | 0.54 (0.34–0.86) | 0.11 | 1.35 (0.75–2.44) | 0.31 | 1.11 (0.59–2.10) | 0.73 | 1.01 (0.51–2.02) | 0.97 |
| Outer Regional | 0.59 (0.22–1.61) | 0.69 | 0.89 (0.46–1.73) | 0.72 | 0.33 (0.16–0.68) | 0.004 | 0.41 (0.19–0.89) | 0.03 |
| Remote | 0.08 (0.03–0.19) | 0.22 | 2.34 (0.62–8.91) | 0.20 | 1.05 (0.29–3.78) | 0.94 | 1.39 (0.38–5.03) | 0.60 |
| Very Remote | 0.05 (0.01–0.27) | 0.47 | 0.90 (0.48–1.67) | 0.72 | 0.43 (0.24–0.77) | 0.006 | 0.55 (0.35–0.85) | 0.01 |
| Time since last eye exam | ||||||||
| Within 1 year | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1–2 years | 0.54 (0.34–0.86) | 0.01 | 0.49 (0.32–0.76) | 0.002 | 0.91 (0.47–1.75) | 0.76 | 0.93 (0.51–2.02) | 0.81 |
| 2–5 years | 0.59 (0.22–1.61) | 0.29 | 0.58 (0.22–1.53) | 0.26 | 0.68 (0.24–1.96) | 0.46 | 0.69 (0.23–2.01) | 0.49 |
| ≥ 5 years | 0.08 (0.03–0.19) | <0.001 | 0.08 (0.03–0.21) | <0.001 | 0.59 (0.27–1.31) | 0.19 | 0.70 (0.32–1.54) | 0.36 |
| Never | 0.05 (0.01–0.27) | 0.001 | 0.05 (0.01–0.23) | 0.001 | 0.07 (0.11–0.43) | 0.006 | 0.08 (0.02–0.43) | 0.004 |
| Examined by | ||||||||
| Optometrist | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Ophthalmologist | 0.62 (0.31–1.24) | 0.17 | 0.49 (0.25–0.95) | 0.06 | 0.68 (0.41–1.13) | 0.13 | 0.81 (0.48–1.38) | 0.43 |
| Others | 0.19 (0.03–1.00) | 0.05 | 0.19 (0.03–1.09) | 0.06 | 0.25 (0.10–0.61) | 0.004 | 0.30 (0.11–0.84) | 0.02 |
†Odds ratio for the association between factors and treatment of refractive error. CI = Confidence Interval
‡ Country of birth was not tested for Indigenous participants as only three individuals were born outside of Oceania
*Statistical significance was set as a p value of <0.05 (two tailed).