Minassian D C
Department of Preventive Ophthalmology, International Centre for Eye Health, London.
Eye (Lond). 1988;2 Suppl:S3-12. doi: 10.1038/eye.1988.128.
A major objective of the Prevention of Blindness programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO PBL Programme) is that by the year 1989 National Prevention of Blindness Programmes should be established in 60 developing countries which have a huge excess of avoidable blindness. To date, this has been achieved in 57 developing countries. Centres in a number of academic institutions have been designated "WHO Collaborating Centres for Prevention of Blindness". These are actively supported by the WHO PBL Programme to undertake collaborative survey and research work in developing countries. A principal aim of such work is to generate epidemiologically sound information that could form the bases for rational planning, implementation and proper evaluation of programmes for prevention of blindness. This paper outlines the main epidemiological methods that have been employed recently, by a WHO collaborating centre based at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London, in population based eye surveys and in epidemiological research in a number of developing countries. The key aspects of the methodology are discussed in detail in the context of practical experience. The outcome of the studies are also mentioned briefly. The three distinct types of epidemiological studies discussed are: (1) Population-based sample surveys, (2) Longitudinal cohort (follow-up) studies and (3) Hospital-based case-control studies.
世界卫生组织预防失明规划（WHO PBL规划）的一个主要目标是，到1989年，在60个可避免失明情况大量存在的发展中国家建立国家预防失明规划。迄今为止，已有57个发展中国家实现了这一目标。一些学术机构的中心已被指定为“世界卫生组织预防失明合作中心”。这些中心得到了WHO PBL规划的积极支持，在发展中国家开展合作调查和研究工作。此类工作的一个主要目的是生成具有流行病学依据的信息，这些信息可为预防失明规划的合理规划、实施和恰当评估提供基础。本文概述了伦敦眼科学院的一个世界卫生组织合作中心最近在一些发展中国家开展的基于人群的眼部调查和流行病学研究中所采用的主要流行病学方法。结合实际经验详细讨论了该方法的关键方面。还简要提及了研究结果。所讨论的三种不同类型的流行病学研究是：（1）基于人群的抽样调查，（2）纵向队列（随访）研究，以及（3）基于医院的病例对照研究。
