Prevalence of Vision Loss in East Asia from 1990 to 2020: Magnitude and Temporal Trends

Purpose
To determine the magnitude and temporal trends of the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment (VI) in East Asia from 1990 to 2020.

Methods
A systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies was performed to estimate the prevalence and affected population of blindness (presenting visual acuity < 3/60 in the better eyes), moderate-to-severe vision impairment (MSVI; 3/60≤ presenting visual acuity < 6/18), mild VI (6/18≤ presenting visual acuity < 6/12) and near VI due to uncorrected presbyopia (presenting near vision <N6 or N8 at 40 cm) for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020. A total of 74 studies were included.

Results
In 2020, East Asia’s age-standardized prevalence of blindness, MSVI, mild VI and near VI due to uncorrected presbyopia was 0.47% (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 0.41% to 0.52%), 2.77% (95% UI, 2.49% to 3.07%), 3.41% (95% UI, 3.06% to 3.78%), 7.38% (95% UI, 5.32% to 9.70%), with a higher prevalence in females compared to males. East Asians had lower prevalence of blindness and MSVI than the world population. Despite the decrease (27.7% for males and 27.1% for females) in age-standardized blindness prevalence in East Asia, the number of people with blindness and MSVI has increased from 7.0 to 9.1 million and 30.8 to 53.9 million from 2000 to 2020.

Conclusions
While age-standardized blindness rates have declined in the past two decades, yet the number of people affected by blindness and MSVI continues to rise, indicating unmet eye care demands in East Asia amid population growth and aging.