Official statistics and blindness in Hong Kong.

WHO designated 1976 as the year for the prevention of blindness and attention is drawn to the prevalence rate and causes of blindness in Hong Kong. The former as released by WHO is as high as 1392 per 100,000 and the latter tends to suggest Vitamin A deficiency is still an important cause here. This article reviews all the official statistics on blindness published in Hong Kong over the past twenty years and seeks to suggest an appropriate prevalence rate for Hong Kong and demonstrate the changing pattern of causes of blindness in Hong Kong. It concludes that Hong Kong should adopt a statistical definition and classification of blindness accepted internationally and suggests that in the presentation of statistics, the misleading factor of present inclusion of past events should be avoided.