Prevalence of Visual Acuity Loss or Blindness in the US: A Bayesian Meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Globally, over 250 million people have vision loss.
• In the US, vision loss is feared more than memory, hearing, or speech loss.
• Recent empirical estimates for US visual acuity loss and blindness are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the prevalence of visual acuity loss and blindness in the US.
• To stratify these estimates by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and US state.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the American Community Survey (2017), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2008), and National Survey of Children's Health (2017).
• Included population-based studies (2000-2013) and data from the CDC's Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System.
• Estimated prevalence stratified by demographics and location; data analysis conducted from March 2018 to March 2020.

Main Results:

• In 2017, an estimated 7.08 million people in the US had visual acuity loss.
• Approximately 1.08 million people in the US were living with blindness in 2017.
• 1.62 million with visual acuity loss and 141,000 with blindness were younger than 40 years.

Conclusions:

• This meta-analysis produced significantly higher prevalence estimates than prior studies.
• The findings underscore the substantial public health burden of vision impairment in the United States.
• Modern estimation methods reveal a greater impact of visual acuity loss and blindness.