Authors
Shi-Nan Wu, Yuqi Jiang, Wenying Guan, Changsheng Xu, De-Xing Zeng, Bing Yan, Jingyao Lv, Caihong Huang, Jiaoyue Hu, Yi Han, Zuguo Liu
Published in
Journal of global health. Volume 16. Pages 04176. May 29, 2026. Epub May 29, 2026.
Abstract
We aimed to provide global, regional, and national estimates of the burden of blindness and vision loss from 1990 to 2021, stratified by cause, age, and sociodemographic index (SDI).
This population-based study used data from the 2021 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021 (GBD) study, covering 1990 to 2021. It evaluates the burden of blindness and vision loss based on prevalence, age-standardised prevalence rate (ASPR), disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), age-standardised DALY rate (ASR of DALY), and average annual percent changes (AAPCs).
Globally, the ASPR of blindness and vision loss increased from 12 453.52 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) = 10 287.58, 15 226.09) in 1990 to 15 784.33 (95% UI = 12 761.44, 19 502.32) in 2021, with an AAPC of 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.7, 1.11, P < 0.001). In contrast, the ASR of DALYs remained stable, changing from 342.01 (95% UI = 237.87, 482.17) in 1990 to 342.78 (95% UI = 224.21, 503.61) in 2021, with an AAPC of 0.05 (95% CI = -0.04, 0.2, P = 0.298). Notably, near vision loss and cataract showed consistent increases, with AAPCs of 1.14 (95% CI = 0.94, 1.51, P < 0.001) and 0.25 (95% CI = 0.16, 0.33, P < 0.001), respectively. Blindness and vision loss prevalence was significantly higher in low and low-middle SDI regions compared to other SDI regions.
Global blindness and vision loss increased from 1990 to 2021, while DALYs stayed stable. Prevention should be tailored by region, country, gender, cause, and age.
PMID:
42212592
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Sep 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 9
- Comments 0