Visual impairment and blindness due to macular diseases globally: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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.