Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 120, Issue 12, December 2013, Pages 2377-2384
Ophthalmology

Original article
Global Prevalence of Vision Impairment and Blindness: Magnitude and Temporal Trends, 1990–2010

Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 2012.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.05.025Get rights and content

Purpose

Vision impairment is a leading and largely preventable cause of disability worldwide. However, no study of global and regional trends in the prevalence of vision impairment has been carried out. We estimated the prevalence of vision impairment and its changes worldwide for the past 20 years.

Participants

A systematic review of published and unpublished population-based data on vision impairment and blindness from 1980 through 2012.

Methods

Hierarchical models were fitted fitted to estimate the prevalence of moderate and severe vision impairment (MSVI; defined as presenting visual acuity <6/18 but ≥3/60) and the prevalence of blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60) by age, country, and year.

Main Outcome Measures

Trends in the prevalence of MSVI and blindness for the period 1990 through 2010.

Results

Globally, 32.4 million people (95% confidence interval [CI], 29.4–36.5 million people; 60% women) were blind in 2010, and 191 million people (95% CI, 174–230 million people; 57% women) had MSVI. The age-standardized prevalence of blindness in older adults (≥50 years) was more than 4% in Western Sub-Saharan Africa (6.0%; 95% CI, 4.6%–7.1%), Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (5.7%; 95% CI, 4.4%–6.9%), South Asia (4.4%; 95% CI, 3.5%–5.1%), and North Africa and the Middle East (4.6%; 95% CI, 3.5%–5.8%), in contrast to high-income regions with blindness prevalences of ≤0.4% or less. The MSVI prevalence in older adults was highest in South Asia (23.6%; 95% CI, 19.4%–29.4%), Oceania (18.9%; 95% CI, 11.8%–23.7%), and Eastern and Western Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa and the Middle East (95% CI, 15.9%–16.8%). The MSVI prevalence was less than 5% in all 4 high-income regions. The global age-standardized prevalence of blindness and MSVI for older adults decreased from 3.0% (95% CI, 2.7%–3.4%) worldwide in 1990 to 1.9% (95% CI, 1.7%–2.2%) in 2010 and from 14.3% (95% CI, 12.1%–16.2%) worldwide to 10.4% (95% CI, 9.5%–12.3%), respectively. When controlling for age, women's prevalence of blindness was greater than men's in all world regions. Because the global population has increased and aged between 1990 and 2010, the number of blind has increased by 0.6 million people (95% CI, −5.2 to 5.3 million people). The number with MSVI may have increased by 19 million people (95% CI, −8 to 72 million people) from 172 million people (95% CI, 142–198 million people) in 1990.

Conclusions

The age-standardized prevalence of blindness and MSVI has decreased in the past 20 years. However, because of population growth and the relative increase in older adults, the blind population has been stable and the population with MSVI may have increased.

Financial Disclosure(s)

The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.

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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  • Cited by (0)

    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).

    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.

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