Original articleGlobal Prevalence of Vision Impairment and Blindness: Magnitude and Temporal Trends, 1990–2010
Section snippets
Methods
We estimated 1990 through 2010 trends in vision impairment prevalence and their uncertainties, by sex, for 190 countries in the 21 GBD subregions (Appendix A, Table A1, available at http://aaojournal.org).9 We estimated the prevalence of 4 extended categories of vision impairment (Table 1; Appendix A, Text A1) and highlighted the prevalence of 2 core categories: blindness and the sum of moderate and severe vision impairment (MSVI). Vision impairment prevalence was based on presenting visual
Global Estimates of the Burden of Vision Impairment in 2010
Globally, 32.4 million people (95% confidence interval [CI], 29.4–36.5 million people; 0.5% of the global population [95% CI, 0.4%–0.5% of the global population]) were blind in 2010, of whom 19.6 million (95% CI, 17.7–22.1 million; 60%) were women (Table 2, available at http://aaojournal.org). The largest number of blind people resided in South Asia (10.6 million; 95% CI, 8.4–12.5 million), followed by East Asia (5.2 million; 95% CI, 4.5–6.5 million), and Southeast Asia (3.5 million; 95% CI,
Discussion
We found that 32.4 million people worldwide were blind in 2010 and that 191 million people had MSVI, with the largest number in South Asia, followed by East Asia and Southeast Asia. The global age-standardized prevalence of blindness and MSVI among adults 50 years of age and older decreased worldwide from 3.0% to 1.9% and from 14.3% to 10.4%, respectively; however, because of the rapid increase in the older adult population, the number of people blind and with MSVI did not decrease.
Our study
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Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article. Dr. Stevens is a staff member of the World Health Organization. The authors are responsible for the views expressed in this publication and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy, or views of the World Health Organization.
Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA; Fight for Sight, London United Kingdom; Fred Hollows Foundation, Rosebery, NSW Australia; and the Brien Holden Vision Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, Australia. The results in this paper are prepared independently of the final estimates of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
∗Group members listed online (details available after the references).
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A list of the Vision Loss Expert Group members appears at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/veru/other_research_areas/global_burden_of_diseases.html. Accessed March 27, 2013.