Previously submitted to: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (no longer under consideration since Oct 24, 2023)
Date Submitted: Apr 24, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The burden, causes and determinants of blindness and vision impairment in Asia: An analysis based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
ABSTRACT
Background:
Asia accounts for more than half of the world’s population and carries a substantial proportion of the global burden blindness and vision impairment. Characterizing the burden, causes and determinants of blindness and vision impairment in Asia may make it possible to focus more on interventions and thereby reduce their occurrence in a more meaningful and sustained manner.
Objective:
To analyze and compare the burden, causes and determinants of blindness and vision loss across the sub-regions of Asia between 1990 and 2019.
Methods:
Numbers, age-standardized rate of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and prevalence of blindness and vision loss from six causes (Age-related macular degeneration, Cataract, Glaucoma, Near-vision impairment, Refractive error and other vision loss) among Asian countries were acquired from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 database. Difference by gender, age, geographic locations and socio-demographic index (SDI) were assessed.
Results:
In 2019, DALYs and prevalence of blindness and vision loss had risen by 90.1% and 116% compared with 1990, reaching 15.84 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 15.83 million, 15.85 million) and 506.71 million (95%UI: 506.68 million, 506.74 million), respectively. Meanwhile, the age-standardized rate of DALYs decreased from 445 (95%UI: 441, 449) to 376 (95%UI: 372, 380) per 100,000 population, while age-standardized prevalence fell from 11300 (95%UI: 11280, 11320) to 10930 (95%UI: 10910, 10950) per 100,000 population. Cataract, refractive error and near vision impairment were the three commonest causes. South Asia had the heaviest regional disease burden. The cataract burden ranked high in most Asian populations. Female sex, older age, and lower national SDI were associated with greater vision loss burden.
Conclusions:
The vision loss burden remains high in Asian populations. Greater investment in ocular disease prevention and care by countries with lower socioeconomic status is needed, as are specific strategies targeting cataract, women and the elderly.
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