Research and Development, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK.
Eye (Lond). 2010 Nov;24(11):1692-9. doi: 10.1038/eye.2010.122. Epub 2010 Sep 17.
The last complete report on causes of blindness in England and Wales was for the data collected during April 1999-March 2000. This study updates these figures, with data collected during April 2007-March 2008.
In England and Wales, registration for blindness and partial sight is initiated with certification by a consultant ophthalmologist with the consent of the patient. The main cause of visual impairment was ascertained where possible for all certificates completed during April 2007-March 2008 and a proportional comparison with 1999-2000 figures was made.
We received 23,185 Certificates of Vision Impairment (CVIs), of which 9823 were for severe sight impairment (blindness) (SSI) and 12,607 were for sight impairment (partial sight) (SI). These totals were considerably lower than the numbers certified in the year ending 31 March 2000. In 16.6% of CVIs, there were multiple causes of visual impairment as compared with 3% of BD8s in 2000. Degeneration of the macula and posterior pole (mostly age-related macular degeneration (AMD)) contributed to vision impairment in 12,746 newly certified blind or partially sighted.
AMD is still by far the leading cause of certified visual loss in England and Wales. Proportional comparisons are hampered by the increasing use of multiple pathology as a main cause of visual impairment, which is believed to have arisen owing to the change in certificate used for data collection. These figures are not estimates of the total numbers newly blind in the UK because not all those entitled to certification are offered and or accept it, but they do nevertheless document the number of people who are deemed to be sufficiently sight impaired to warrant support and have been both offered and accepted it. This is usually the case when no further ophthalmic intervention is thought likely to be of benefit in terms of restoring or improving vision.
英格兰和威尔士最后一份完整的失明原因报告是针对 1999 年 4 月至 2000 年 3 月期间收集的数据。本研究更新了这些数据，数据来自 2007 年 4 月至 2008 年 3 月期间的收集。
在英格兰和威尔士，失明和部分视力丧失的登记是由顾问眼科医生在征得患者同意的情况下进行认证后开始的。对于在 2007 年 4 月至 2008 年 3 月期间完成的所有证书，尽可能确定主要的视力损害原因，并与 1999-2000 年的数据进行比例比较。
我们收到了 23185 份视力损伤证书（CVIs），其中 9823 份为严重视力损伤（失明）（SSI），12607 份为视力损伤（部分视力）（SI）。这些总数明显低于 2000 年 3 月 31 日结束时认证的人数。在 16.6%的 CVIs 中，有多个视力损害原因，而 2000 年的 BD8s 中只有 3%。黄斑和后极的变性（主要是年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD））导致了 12746 名新认证的盲或部分失明者的视力损害。
AMD 仍然是英格兰和威尔士经认证的视力丧失的主要原因。由于将多种病理学作为视力损害的主要原因的使用不断增加，比例比较受到阻碍，这被认为是由于用于数据收集的证书发生了变化。这些数字不是英国新失明人数的估计，因为并非所有有资格认证的人都被提供和/或接受认证，但它们确实记录了那些被认为视力受损足以需要支持并已被提供和接受的人数。通常情况下，当没有进一步的眼科干预被认为有可能恢复或改善视力时，就是这种情况。
