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. 2022 Jul 21;17(7):e0271736.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271736. eCollection 2022.

Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey

Praveen Vashist  1 , Suraj Singh Senjam  1 , Vivek Gupta  1 , Noopur Gupta  2 , B R Shamanna  3 , Meenakshi Wadhwani  4 , Pallavi Shukla  5 , Souvik Manna  1 , Saumya Yadav  1 , Amit Bharadwaj  6
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Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey

Praveen Vashist et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Avoidable blindness is a significant public health problem in India. Nationally representative RAAB surveys (Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness) are being conducted periodically in the country to know the current status of blindness in the country. The current study describes the findings from the RAAB survey conducted during 2015-19 in India.

Methodology: A cross-sectional, population-based survey was conducted across the entire country among persons aged 50 years and above using RAAB version 6 methodology. Presenting and pinhole visual acuity was recorded followed by lens examination using a torchlight. In order to estimate the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in overall population in India, district weights were assigned to each of the 31 surveyed districts and the prevalence was standardized using the RAAB software.

Results: The overall weighted, age-gender standardized, prevalence of blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60 in better eye) in population aged ≥50 years was 1.99% (95% CI 1.94%, 2.13%) and of visual impairment (VI) (presenting visual acuity <6/12 in better eye) was 26.68% (95% CI 26.57-27.17%). On multivariate analysis, adjusted odds ratio showed that blindness was associated with age ≥ 80 years (OR = 20.3, 95% CI: 15.6-26.4) and being illiterate (OR = 5.6, 95% CI: 3.6-8.9). Blindness was not found to be significantly associated with either gender or locality.

Conclusion: The results of the survey demonstrate that currently more than one fourth of persons aged 50 years and above are visually impaired (PVA<6/12 in better eye) in India. The prevalence of blindness among them is 1.99%, and older age and illiteracy are significantly associated with blindness. Major causes of blindness included cataract (66.2%), corneal opacity (CO) (8.2%), cataract surgical complications (7.2%), posterior segment disorders (5.9%) and glaucoma (5.5%). The proportion of blindness and visual impairment that is due to avoidable causes include 92.9% and 97.4% respectively.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. District-wise prevalence of blindness (PVA Better eye <3/60) in population aged ≥ 50 years in 31 districts of India.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Causes of blindness and visual impairment in population aged ≥50 years (A and B respectively).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Categories of blindness and visual impairment by intervention (A and B respectively).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Reduction in blindness and visual impairment from 2010 estimates in overall population.
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