Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey.
<h4>Introduction</h4>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 s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271736 |
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| author | Praveen Vashist Suraj Singh Senjam Vivek Gupta Noopur Gupta B R Shamanna Meenakshi Wadhwani Pallavi Shukla Souvik Manna Saumya Yadav Amit Bharadwaj |
| author_facet | Praveen Vashist Suraj Singh Senjam Vivek Gupta Noopur Gupta B R Shamanna Meenakshi Wadhwani Pallavi Shukla Souvik Manna Saumya Yadav Amit Bharadwaj |
| author_sort | Praveen Vashist |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Introduction</h4>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.<h4>Methodology</h4>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.<h4>Results</h4>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.<h4>Conclusion</h4>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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:24:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-05b7c597abf149d1ac7c1eb23085e278 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:24:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-05b7c597abf149d1ac7c1eb23085e2782023-06-20T05:31:35ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01177e027173610.1371/journal.pone.0271736Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey.Praveen VashistSuraj Singh SenjamVivek GuptaNoopur GuptaB R ShamannaMeenakshi WadhwaniPallavi ShuklaSouvik MannaSaumya YadavAmit Bharadwaj<h4>Introduction</h4>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.<h4>Methodology</h4>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.<h4>Results</h4>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.<h4>Conclusion</h4>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.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271736 |
| spellingShingle | Praveen Vashist Suraj Singh Senjam Vivek Gupta Noopur Gupta B R Shamanna Meenakshi Wadhwani Pallavi Shukla Souvik Manna Saumya Yadav Amit Bharadwaj Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. PLoS ONE |
| title | Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. |
| title_full | Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. |
| title_fullStr | Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. |
| title_short | Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey. |
| title_sort | blindness and visual impairment and their causes in india results of a nationally representative survey |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271736 |
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