PROductivity Study of Presbyopia Elimination in Rural-dwellers III

Globally, 1.1 billion people lack a simple pair of reading glasses to correct impaired near vision, called presbyopia. Presbyopia can begin as early as age 30 years, commonly becomes functionally apparent by 40, and is essentially complete by 55 meaning that presbyopia is most common at the height of the working years. The global productivity loss due to uncorrected presbyopia has been estimated to exceed US$25 billion, and presbyopia is shown to be associated with significant impairment in activities of daily living. There is paucity in trial evidence of the impact on near vision spectacle correction on work productivity and workplace retention. The largest reported effect sizes among such trials (specifically for productivity) was the PROSPER trial, which showed that providing inexpensive near vision glasses increased the daily weight of tea picked among presbyopic, mostly-female Indian agricultural workers by more than 5 kg (21.7%) compared to those in the control group.

Study Plan: The investigators will choose 1260 textile workers aged 30 years and above with uncorrected presbyopia who are employed by Shahi Exports Private Limited in Karnataka, India. They will be randomly assigned into one of two groups: a group receiving free reading glasses within one week of undergoing vision assessment ("Intervention") or a group receiving identical reading glasses at the end of the assessment period ("Control").The main study outcome will be the proportion of workers who continue working at the factories in the intervention group (as opposed to control). The investigators anticipate that the glasses intervention will increase retention by 20% in the Intervention group at 1 year.

The study will also assess the workers' efficiency, why they have left employment, how satisfied and valued they felt at their work and how often they use their glasses for work. These other outcomes will help the investigators to better understand the causal pathway between vision and work retention. The investigators will also study the total cost of providing glasses per additional worker retain their employment.

Research question: Will providing free glasses to presbyopic Indian textile workers increase work retention?

Design: Investigator-masked, multi-center randomized controlled trial with a qualitative component

Rationale: Although presbyopia is safely, effectively and inexpensively treated with glasses, rates of optical correction in LMICs are as low as 10%. The way in which firms manage workers has profound implications for performance by way of worker attendance, retention, and productivity. Similarly, worker engagement, and the extent to which workers feel valued, is a key determinant of firm performance. As the low-skill workforce in many developing countries transitions rapidly from agriculture to industrial work, employers struggle with high worker turnover due to poor working conditions, low pay, and restricted worker rights. Few trials have been published which address the question of whether healthcare interventions can improve work performance as well as workplace retention, especially among persons over the age of 40 in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). There is interest in understanding if these results obtained in an agricultural setting can be extended to other financially-important sectors.

Methods: The investigators will choose 1260 textile workers aged 30 years and above with uncorrected presbyopia who are employed by Shahi Exports Private Limited in Karnataka, India. They will be randomly assigned into one of two groups: a group receiving free reading glasses within one week of undergoing vision assessment ("Intervention") or a group receiving identical reading glasses at the end of the assessment period ("Control").

The main outcome 18 month later will be work retention; secondary outcomes are workers' efficiency, the reasons the workers left their employment, satisfaction and perceived self-valued at work and glasses wear adherence at work. Attitudes about presbyopia and spectacle use and intervention cost-effectiveness will be studied.