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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Aug;38(11):2156-2172.
doi: 10.1038/s41433-024-02961-1.

Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020

Collaborators
Meta-Analysis

Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020

Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study et al. Eye (Lond). 2024 Aug.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: To estimate global and regional trends from 2000 to 2020 of the number of persons visually impaired by cataract and their proportion of the total number of vision-impaired individuals.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published population studies and gray literature from 2000 to 2020 was carried out to estimate global and regional trends. We developed prevalence estimates based on modeled distance visual impairment and blindness due to cataract, producing location-, year-, age-, and sex-specific estimates of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI presenting visual acuity <6/18, ≥3/60) and blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60). Estimates are age-standardized using the GBD standard population.

Results: In 2020, among overall (all ages) 43.3 million blind and 295 million with MSVI, 17.0 million (39.6%) people were blind and 83.5 million (28.3%) had MSVI due to cataract blind 60% female, MSVI 59% female. From 1990 to 2020, the count of persons blind (MSVI) due to cataract increased by 29.7%(93.1%) whereas the age-standardized global prevalence of cataract-related blindness improved by -27.5% and MSVI increased by 7.2%. The contribution of cataract to the age-standardized prevalence of blindness exceeded the global figure only in South Asia (62.9%) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (47.9%).

Conclusions: The number of people blind and with MSVI due to cataract has risen over the past 30 years, despite a decrease in the age-standardized prevalence of cataract. This indicates that cataract treatment programs have been beneficial, but population growth and aging have outpaced their impact. Growing numbers of cataract blind indicate that more, better-directed, resources are needed to increase global capacity for cataract surgery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study A Bron reports payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Théa. M A Del Monte reports support for attending meetings and/or travel from the University of Michigan, and leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid as past president of Costenbader Society. D Friedman reports leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group paid or unpaid with Orbis International as member of board of governors (no payment). J M Furtado reports consulting fees from Pan American Health Organization and from Lions Club International Foundation. M E Hartnett reports support for the present manuscript (e.g., funding, provision of study materials, medical writing, article processing charges, etc.) from Michael F. Marmor, M.D. Professor of Retinal Science and Disease as endowment to support salary, grants or contracts from any entity (from National Eye Institute R01 EY017011 and National Eye Institute R01 EY015130) as partial salary support, patents planned, issued or pending (WO2015123561A2 and WO2021062169A1), and leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid with Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation and as director of Women’s Eye Health and Macular Society Grant Review Chair. J H Kempen reports support for the present manuscript (e.g., funding, provision of study materials, medical writing, article processing charges, etc.) from Sight for Souls and from Mass Eye and Ear Global Surgery Program (both as general support of salary), and leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid with Sight for Souls (as president). J E Kim reports consulting fees from Genentech/Roche, DORC, Notal Vision and Outlook Therapeutics (all as payment to J E Kim); participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board with Allergan, Amgen, Apellis, Bausch & Lomb, Clearside, Coherus, Novartis and Regeneron (all as participation on advisory board); leadership or fiduciary role in other borad, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid, with AAO, APRIS, ASRS, Macular Society and NAEVR/AEVR (all unpaid); and receipt of equipment, materials, drugs, medical writing, gifts or other services from Clearside and Genentech/Roche (both for medical writing). V C Lansingh reports consulting fees from HelpMeSee (as an employee), and support for attending meetings and/or travel from HelpMeSee (pay airfare and hotel). J Leasher reports leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid with National Eye Institute (as a member) and National Eye Health Education Program planning committee (unpaid). M Nowak reports participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board with Vision Express Co. Poland as the chairman of medical advisory board of Vision Express Co. Poland. P Ramulu reports grants or contracts from National Institute of Health and Perfuse Therapeutics, and consulting fees from Alcon and W. L. Gore. F Topouzis reports grants or contracts from Théa, Omikron, Pfizer, Alcon, Abbvie and Bayer (all paid to Institution), consulting fees from Omikron, Théa and Bausch & Lomb (all paid to Topouzis), payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Omikron (paid to Topouzis), Abbvie and Roche (both paid to Institute), and leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid with European Glaucoma Society (as president), Greek Glaucoma Society (as president) and Board of Governors, World Glaucoma Association (all unpaid). GBD 2019 Blindness and Vision Impairment Collaborators N S Bayileyegn reports participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board with Jimma University, and leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid with Jimma University as a discipline committee member; outside the submitted work. S Bhaskar reports grants or contracts from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), JSPS International Fellowship, Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Australian Academy of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI); leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid with Rotary District 9675 as the District Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Global Health & Migration Hub Community and the Global Health Hub Germany (Berlin, Germany) as the Chair and Manager; PLOS One, BMC Neurology, Frontiers In Neurology, Frontiers in Stroke, Frontiers in Public Health and BMC Medical Research Methodology as an Editorial Board Member; and with the College of Reviewers, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Government of Canada as a Member; outside the submitted work. X Dai reports support for the present manuscript from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the University of Washington. M Cenderadewi reports grants or contracts from James Cook University (International Research Training Program Scholarship for doctoral study), and support for attending meetings and travel from James Cook University; all outside the submitted work. M Foschi reports consulting fees from Roche; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Sanofi, Merck, and Novartis; support for attending meetings and travel from Novartis and Roche; leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid with MSBase as a scientific leadership board member, and Cochrane Review Group for Multiple Sclerosis and other rate diseases of the CNS as a member; all outside the submitted work. F Ghassemi reports support for the present manuscript from medical writing. B N G Goulart reports stock or stock options with Bristo Myers-Squibb and Pfizer; outside the submitted work. V B Gupta reports grants or contracts from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC); outside the submitted work. S Hallaj reports support for the present manuscript from the National Institute of Health, Bridge to AI common fund (grant number: OT2 OD032644). I M Ilic reports support for the present manuscript from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological development, Republic of Serbia (project No 175042, 2011-2023). S Islam reports support for the present manuscript from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant and the Heart Foundation Vanguard Grant. J H Kempen reports support for the present manuscript from Sight for Souls and Mass Eye and Ear Global Surgery Program; and leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid with Sight for Souls as the President. K Krishan reports other non-financial support from the UGC Centre of Advanced Study, CAS II, awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University (Chandigarh, India); outside the submitted work. O P Kurmi reports grants or contracts from the British Council India paid to Coventry University; outside the submitted work. V C Lansingh reports consulting fees from HelpMeSee, and financial support for attending meetings and travel from HelpMeSee; outside the submitted work. J L Leasher leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, unpaid with the National Eye Institute as a member and the National Eye Health Education Program as a planning committee member; outside the submitted work. M Lee reports support for the present manuscript from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021R1I1A4A01057428) and Bio-convergence Technology Education Program through the Korea Institute for Advancement Technology (KIAT) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (No. P0017805). C McAlinden reports grants or contracts from the Welsh Government on the following study: Feasibility of an alternative pathway for hospital referrals from Diabetic Eye Screening Wales (DESW) for people suspected with sight-threatening diabetic eye disease (diabetic maculopathy). No funds will be received from the author’s institution or personally related to this study. Any work conducted as part of this study is as an unpaid collaborator; consulting fees from Acufocus (Irvine, California, USA), Atia Vision (Campbell, California, USA), Bausch and Lomb (Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA), BVI / PhysIOL (Liège, Belgium), Coopervision (Pleasanton, California, USA), Cutting Edge (Labége, France), Fudan University (Fudan, China), Hoya (Frankfurt, Germany), Knowledge Gate Group (Copenhagen, Denmark), Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision (Santa Ana, California, USA), Keio University (Tokyo, Japan), Ludwig-Maximilians-University (München, Germany), Medevise Consulting SAS (Strasbourg, France), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), Ophtec BV (Groningen, The Netherlands), Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China), SightGlass vision (Menlo Park, California, USA), Science in Vision (Bend, Oregan, USA), SpyGlass (Aliso Viejo, California, USA), Targomed GmbH (Bruchsal, Germany), University of São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil), and Vold Vision (Arkansas, USA); payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Scope (Crawley, UK), Bausch and Lomb (Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA), and Thea pharmaceuticals (Clemont-Ferrand, France); support for attending meetings and/or travel from Royal College of Ophthalmologists (London, UK), Scope (Crawley, UK), Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology (Portugal), British Society of Refractive surgery (BSRS), Thea pharmaceuticals (Clemont-Ferrand, France), Bausch and Lomb (Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA); leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid with the British Society of Refractive Surgery (BSRS) as an unpaid council member, and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (London, UK) as an unpaid PROM advisor; other financial interests from the Quality of Vision (QoV) Questionnaire tool, the Orthokeratology and Contact Lens Quality of Life Questionnaire (OCL-QoL), and paid peer reviews for Research Square; outside of the submitted work. S Nargus reports receipt of equipment, materials, drugs, medical writing, gifts or other services from Medical writing services; outside the submitted work. Y L Samodra and J H V Ticoalu report other financial or non-financial interests as co-founders of Benang Merah Research Center; outside the submitted work. J A Singh reports consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Crealta/Horizon, Medisys, Fidia, PK Med, Two labs Inc., Adept Field Solutions, Clinical Care options, Clearview healthcare partners, Putnam associates, Focus forward, Navigant consulting, Spherix, MedIQ, Jupiter Life Science, UBM LLC, Trio Health, Medscape, WebMD, Practice Point communications, and the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Rheumatology; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from the speaker’s bureau of Simply Speaking; support for attending meetings from OMERACT as a member of the steering committee; participation on an Advisory Committee with the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee; leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, paid or unpaid as a past steering committee member of the OMERACT, an international organization that develops measures for clinical trials and receives arms length funding from 12 pharmaceutical companies, Co-Chair of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatology Field Advisory Committee, and the editor and Director of the UAB Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Satellite Center on Network Meta-analysis; stock or stock options in Atai Life Sciences, Kintara Therapeutics, Intelligent Biosolutions, Acumen Pharmaceutical, TPT Global Tech, Vaxart Pharmaceuticals, Atyu Biopharma, Adaptimmune Therapeutics, GeoVax Labs, Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Enzolytics Inc., Seres Therapeutics, Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., and Charlotte’s Web Holdings, Inc, as well as previously owned stock options in Amarin, Viking and Moderna Pharmaceuticals; outside the submitted work. E Skiadaresi reports consulting fees from Bayer (Leverkusen, Germany), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), Roche ((Basel, Switzerland), Medevise Consulting SAS (Strasbourg, France); payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing or educational events from Bayer (Leverkusen, Germany), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), Roche ((Basel, Switzerland); support for attending meetings and travel from Bayer (Leverkusen, Germany), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), Roche ((Basel, Switzerland); leadership or fiduciary roles in board, society, committee or advocacy groups, unpaid with the ATHENA Trial Steering Committee as the Chair; all outside the submitted work. J D Steinmetz reports support for the present manuscript from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (IHME funding for GBD analyses). M Zielińska reports other financial interests as an AstraZeneca employee; outside the submitted work. The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Crude prevalence of Blindness and MSVI due to cataract in 2020 globally by age.

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