Principal causes of blindness and vision impairment of study participants in Papua New Guinea
| Primary cause | Papua New Guinea, frequency (weighted average, %) | |||
| B* (n=225) | SVI† (n=122) | MVI‡ (n=492) | EVI§ (n=365) | |
| Refractive error | 0 (0.0) | 2 (1.4) | 92 (16.1) | 190 (45.3) |
| Cataract, untreated | 199 (88.6) | 108 (89.3) | 360 (76.2) | 130 (43.6) |
| Cataract surgical complications | 3 (1.1) | 1 (1.2) | 7 (1.4) | 3 (1.5) |
| Trachomatous corneal opacity | 1 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Non-trachomatous corneal opacity | 4 (2.1) | 2 (1.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Phthisis | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Diabetic retinopathy | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.2) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) |
| Age-related macular degeneration | 2 (0.5) | 1 (1.2) | 6 (1.5) | 10 (2.0) |
| Other posterior segment disease | 10 (3.9) | 4 (1.5) | 27 (4.8) | 31 (7.4) |
| All other globe/CNS abnormalities | 6 (2.9) | 2 (1.6) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
No occurrences of presenting visual acuity of <6/12 were the primary cause due to uncorrected aphakia, Eales’ disease or glaucoma.
*Blindness (B) indicates VA <3/60.
†Severe vision impairment (SVI) indicates VA <6/60 but ≥3/60.
‡Moderate vision impairment (MVI) indicates VA <6/18 but ≥6/60.
§Early vision impairment (EVI) indicates VA <6/12 but ≥6/18.
CNS, central nervous system; VA, visual acuity.