Posters

Burden of blindness in China - a systematic literature review

Poster Details

First Author: L.Zhaohui CHINA

Co Author(s):    Y. Zhong   M. Dhariwal                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To collate and review published evidence in order to assess burden of blindness in China.

Setting:

Systematic Literature Review of published evidence.

Methods:

A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed (period: January 2006 – May 2019) to collate and synthesize published evidence on burden of blindness in China.

Results:

Prevalence of blindness in China ranged between 0.3% (adults greater than 40 years) to 1.7% (adults greater than 50 years). Cataract remained the most frequent (36.7%- 52.6%) cause for blindness in Chinese adults followed by myopic retinopathy (24.8%- 36.4%), myopic macular degeneration (7.7%-10.9%), glaucoma (6.25%-9.1%) and corneal opacity (6.2%-16.2%). In 2015, 11.7 million of the 111.7 million cataract cases in China suffered from blindness (BCVA less than 0.05). Chinese Ministry of Health reported that 45% of China's county hospitals do not offer cataract surgery services and most rural residents are unable to afford surgery in urban centers.

Conclusions:

Chinese population is progressively ageing, resulting in an increasing burden of preventable blindness. There is a rural urban divide in access to surgery in China; lack of disease awareness and concerns about the quality of local services appear being the principal barriers in rural Chinese population.

Financial Disclosure:

is employed by a for-profit company with an interest in the subject of the presentation, receives consulting fees, retainer, or contract payments from a competing company