Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Center, University of Mainz; Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE); Preventive Cardiology and Medical Prevention, Cardiology I, Medical Center, University of Mainz; Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, University of Mainz; Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), Medical Center, University of Mainz; Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Medical Center, University of Mainz.
Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 Apr 26;116(17):289-295. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2019.0289.
The distribution of visual impairment is an indicator of the health status of the population and for the frequency of diseases of the eye.
The Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) is a population-based cohort study in Germany concerning adults aged 35 to 74. 15 010 subjects from the Mainz-Bingen region underwent general medical and ophthalmological examination, with measurement of the distance-corrected visual acuity in each eye separately. As per the World Health Organization criteria, visual impairment was defined as an acuity below 0.3 in the better eye, and blindness as an acuity below 0.05. All patients who were found to be visually impaired or blind underwent further individual study with clinical history-taking, split-lamp examination, and fundus photography.
Data from 14 687 subjects were evaluated. The mean age of the partici- pants was 55.0 years (standard deviation, 11.1 years). The prevalence of visual im- pairment was 0.37% (95% confidence interval [0.28; 0.49]) (n = 55) and was higher in women (0.44%) than in men (0.31%). Blindness was present in 0.05% [0.03; 0.11] (n = 8) of the subjects. The prevalence of visual impairment from age 65 on- ward was 0.79%, three times higher than in the younger age groups. 54.5% of the visually impaired subjects had multiple underlying ophthalmological pathologies.
The causes of visual impairment are manifold. Loss of vision is often the combined effect of multiple pathological factors. The etiology of visual impair- ment is thus a more complex matter than is commonly assumed.
视力障碍的分布是人口健康状况和眼部疾病频率的一个指标。
古腾堡健康研究（Gutenberg Health Study，GHS）是一项在德国进行的基于人群的队列研究，涉及年龄在 35 至 74 岁之间的成年人。来自美因茨-宾根地区的 15010 名受试者接受了一般医学和眼科检查，分别测量每只眼睛的矫正距离视力。根据世界卫生组织的标准，视力障碍定义为较好眼的视力低于 0.3，失明定义为视力低于 0.05。所有被发现视力障碍或失明的患者都接受了进一步的个体研究，包括病史采集、裂隙灯检查和眼底照相。
对 14687 名受试者的数据进行了评估。参与者的平均年龄为 55.0 岁（标准差为 11.1 岁）。视力障碍的患病率为 0.37%（95%置信区间[0.28；0.49]）（n=55），女性（0.44%）高于男性（0.31%）。有 0.05%[0.03；0.11]（n=8）的受试者失明。65 岁以上人群的视力障碍患病率为 0.79%，是较年轻年龄组的三倍。54.5%的视力障碍患者有多种潜在的眼科病理。
视力障碍的原因是多方面的。视力丧失通常是多种病理因素共同作用的结果。因此，视力障碍的病因比人们通常认为的要复杂得多。
