Faculty Articles
Visual impairment and blindness due to macular diseases globally: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher
Elsevier
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Abstract
PURPOSE: To estimate the number of people visually impaired or blind due to macular diseases except those caused by diabetic maculopathy. DESIGN: Meta-analysis. METHODS: Based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 and ongoing literature research, we examined how many people were affected by vision impairment (presenting visual acuity <6/18, ‡3/60) and blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60) due to macular diseases, with diabetic maculopathy excluded. RESULTS: In 2010, of 32.4 million blind people and 191 million vision-impaired people, 2.1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.9, 2.7) people were blind, and 6.0 million (95% UI: 5.2, 8.1) million were visually impaired due to macular diseases. In 2010, macular diseases caused 6.6% (95% UI: 6.0, 7.9) of all blindness and 3.1% (95% UI: 2.7, 4.0) of all vision impairment, worldwide. These figures were lower in regions with young populations than in high-income regions. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people who were blind or visually impaired due to macular diseases increased by 36%, or 0.6 million people (95% UI: 0.5, 0.8) and by 81%, or 2.7 million (95% UI: 2.6, 3.9) people, respectively, whereas the global population increased by 30%. Age-standardized global prevalence of macula-related blindness and vision impairment in adults 50 years of age and older decreased from 0.2% (95% UI: 0.2, 0.2) in 1990 to 0.1% (95% UI: 0.1, 0.2) in 2010 and remained unchanged from 0.4% (95% UI: 0.3, 0.5) to 0.4% (95% UI: 0.4, 0.6), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In 2010, 2.1 million people were blind and 6.0 million people were visually impaired due to macular diseases, except those caused by diabetic maculopathy. Of every 15 blind people, 1 was blind due to macular disease, and of every 32 visually impaired people, 1 was visually impaired due to macular disease.
DOI
10.1016/j.ajo.2014.06.012
Volume
158
Issue
4
First Page
808
Last Page
815
Disciplines
Optometry
NSUWorks Citation
Jonas, Jost B.; Bourne, Rupert R.A.; White, Richard A.; Flaxman, Seth R.; Keeffe, Jill; Leasher, Janet; Naidoo, Kovin; Pesudovs, Konrad; Price, Holly; Wong, Tien Y.; Resnikoff, Serge; and Taylor, Hugh R., "Visual impairment and blindness due to macular diseases globally: A systematic review and meta-analysis" (2014). Faculty Articles. 74.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_opt_facarticles/74
