Daniela I. Agudelo-Correa, Programa de Especialización en Oftalmología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Margot Ortiz-Álvarez, Clínica Oftalmológica de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Juan F. Orozco-Lopera, Clínica Somer-Rionegro, Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Óscar A. Villada-Ochoa, Posgrados Médico-Quirúrgicos, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia

Background: There are few studies on the frequency of visual diseases in air transport workers. Objective: To determine the prevalence of visual diseases in commercial air transport workers in Medellín, Colombia. Method: Retrospective cross-sectional study, population of 1,312 commercial flight workers carried out between October 2019 and April 2022. We measured the prevalence of refractive errors, dyschromatopsias, amblyopia, strabismus, and alterations in stereopsis. Results: Fifty-one percent were men. Age (mean ± standard deviation) was 25.1 ± 9.7 years. The most frequent occupation was cabin crew (48%). The prevalence of refractive errors was 68% (50.2 % myopia; 6.2% hyperopia; 4.5% mixed astigmatism; dyschromatopsias 1.4%; amblyopia 1%; stereopsis alterations 0.9% and strabismus 0.2%. Thirty-eight percent of workers required permanent use of optical correction. Conclusions: There is a higher prevalence of ametropia in air transport workers compared to the general population; myopia is the most common refractive error. The prevalence of dyschromatopsias, strabismus, amblyopia and stereopsis alterations are low in this population.

Keywords: Refractive errors. Depth perception. Color vision. Epidemiological studies. Pilots.