Utilization of eye care services among those with unilateral visual impairment in rural South India：Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study(APEDS)

AIM：To report on the utilization of eye care services and its associated factors among those with unilateral visual impairment（VI）in a rural South Indian population.METHODS：A population based cross-sectional study was conducted in three districts（Adilabad,Mahbubnagar and West Godavari）in the state of Andhra Pradesh,India.A detailed interview and a comprehensive eye examination were conducted. Those with unilateral VI were asked questions about noticing any change in vision and on utilization of eye care services. The most important reason reported by the participant for not utilizing the services was used for the analysis. Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the association between noticing a change in vision and socio-demographic variables such as age,gender,education and area of residence,severity and causes of VI.RESULTS：Among the 4456 participants aged ≥16y who were administered the questionnaire,53.2% were women,and 54.7% had no education. Of the 489（11%; 95% CI：10.1-11.9）people with unilateral VI,399（81.6%）participants reported noticing a change in their vision over the last five years but only 136（34.1%）participants had soughteye care consultation. Those who had any education（OR：1.9; 95% CI：1.1-3.2）,had blindness（OR：2.7; 95% CI：1.4-5.2）,and cataract（OR：2.1; 95% CI：1.0-4.3）as a cause of unilateral VI were more like to seek eye care consultations. The most commonly reported reasons for not seeking eye care services were ＂do not have money for eye checkup＂ in 30.7% of the participants followed by ＂do not have a serious problem＂（30.0%）.CONCLUSION：A large proportion of rural population though noticed a change in their vision did not seek eye care due to financial and person-related reasons. Eye care service providers need to address these barriers to enhance the uptake of eye care services among those with unilateral VI.

An Efficient Scrambled Estimator of Population Mean of Quantitative Sensitive Variable Using General Linear Transformation of Non-sensitive Auxiliary Variable

In the present paper,we propose an efficient scrambled estimator of population mean of quantitative sensitive study variable,using general linear transformation of nonsensitive auxiliary variable.Efficiency comparisons with the existing estimators have been carried out both theoretically and numerically.It has been found that our optimal scrambled estimator is always more efficient than most of the existing scrambled estimators and also it is more efficient than few other scrambled estimators under some conditions.

An Efficient Class of Calibration Ratio Estimators of Domain Mean in Survey Sampling

This paper develops a new approach to domain estimation and proposes a new class of ratio estimators that is more efficient than the regression estimator and not depending on any optimality condition using the principle of calibration weightings.Some wellknown regression and ratio-type estimators are obtained and shown to be special members of the newclass of estimators.Results of analytical study showed that the new class of estimators is superior in both efficiency and biasedness to all related existing estimators under review.The relative performances of the new class of estimators with a corresponding global estimator were evaluated through a simulation study.Analysis and evaluation are presented.