Global causes of blindness and distance vision impairment 1990 –2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication date: Available online 11 October 2017 Source:The Lancet Global Health Author(s): Seth R Flaxman, Rupert R A Bourne, Serge Resnikoff, Peter Ackland, Tasanee Braithwaite, Maria V Cicinelli, Aditi Das, Jost B Jonas, Jill Keeffe, John H Kempen, Janet Leasher, Hans Limburg, Kovin Naidoo, Konrad Pesudovs, Alex Silvester, Gretchen A Stevens, Nina Tahhan, Tien Y Wong, Hugh R Taylor Background Contemporary data for causes of vision impairment and blindness form an important basis of recommendations in public health policies. Refreshment of the Global Vision Database with recently published data sources permitted modelling of cause of vision loss data from 1990 to 2015, further disaggregation by cause, and forecasts to 2020. Methods In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we analysed published and unpublished population-based data for the causes of vision impairment and blindness from 1980 to 2014. We identified population-based studies published before July 8, 2014, by searching online databases with no language restrictions (MEDLINE from Jan 1, 1946, and Embase from Jan 1, 1974, and the WHO Library Database). We fitted a series of regression models to estimate the proportion of moderate or severe vision impairment (defined as presenting visual acuity of <6/18 but ≥3/60 in the better eye) and blindness (presenting visual acuity of <3/60 in the better eye) by cause, age, region, and year. Findings We identified 288 studies of 3â€...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research