Near vision loss cases up 140% to 138m in 30 years Times of India 20-10-2020
shobita.d...@timesgroup.com New Delhi: Increased life expectancy and a high diabetes burden have raised the number of Indians with eyesight issues. Cases of near vision loss have more than doubled in the country— from 57.7 million in 1990 to 137.6 million in 2020—according to new data provided by two international bodies. Near vision loss means inability to focus on nearby objects— it’s also called presbyopia—and sets in from the mid-40s. In a new data analysis that took six to seven years to compile, the Vision Loss Expert Group (VLEG) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) found that there were 507 million cases of near vision loss in the world, with 137.6 million of them in India. *With 9.2m, India home to world’s max blind people* The data also revealed that cases of moderate and severe visual impairment (MSVI) have almost doubled from 40.6 million in 1990 to 79 million in 2020 in India. Moderate and severe vision loss is when visual acuity is less than 6/18 to 3/ 60 (if a patient has a vision of 3/ 60, it means she is able to see from three feet what a person with perfect vision can see from 60 feet). Blindness is when visual acuity is less than 3/60. A leading cause of MSVI is diabetes, said experts. In 2016, India had 65 million diabetics, according to a Lancet paper. The latest IAPB survey found that about1in 6 diabetics in India suffer from retinopathy. “Untreated visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy, cataract, glaucoma and certain corneal conditions can lead to blindness. These factors account for about 65% of all MSVI cases in India,” said Dr Vinay Nangia, ophthalmologist and lead for the Vision Loss Expert Group, South Asia. Another factor behind the rise in vision problems is increased life expectancy of Indians, experts said. With a blind population of 9.2 million, India is still home to the world’s largest number of blind people followed by China at 8.9 million people. And while vision problems in Indians have increased, the survey found that the crude prevalence of blindness (for the population taken as a whole) had reduced slightly—from 0.8% of the total population to 0.6% in 2020. Full report on www.toi.in -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CADetga9g%2Bw1W9xKBO5bb7_rmGg1ZZnwMnUSOv2MEwQM0xOm7-w%40mail.gmail.com.
