Feyissa Matthew, Bowman Richard, Theodorou Maria
Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London Rd, Reading, United Kingdom.
Great Ormond Street Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London, United Kingdom.
Eye (Lond). 2025 Sep 5. doi: 10.1038/s41433-025-03979-9.
The Certifications of Visual Impairment (VI) system was implemented to quantify and classify the incidence of visual impairment amongst the England and Wales population. This retrospective study investigates the trend in the certification of VI amongst children aged <16 years old.
CVI data provided by the Certifications Office, was extracted and assessed to identify the various causes of mild-moderate (SI) and severe (SSI) visual impairment between 2009-2022. The data was classified into 11 broad groups which were similar in pathology. Incidence data was calculated using the official Census data. Byar's method was used to calculate confidence intervals to determine significant changes in the number of new registrations in 4 early intervals amongst conditions that recorded >5 registrations in every year or the study.
Between 2009-2022 there were 18,387 new registrations (10,915 SI and 7472 SSI). Disorders of the CNS (4145), retinal disorders (2990), and congenital abnormalities of the eye (4491) made up nearly 2/3 of the registrations. Amongst SI registrations, there was a significant increase in these 3 groups over the 13-year period excluding the first year of the Covid pandemic. However, there was a significant decrease in SSI registrations for congenital abnormalities.
Overall, there is an increasing number of children registered SI/SSI in England and Wales. The main causes are: disorders of the CNS, retinal disorders and congenital abnormalities of the eye. This may be due to increasing awareness, early screening and advancements in genomic testing.
实施视力障碍（VI）认证系统是为了对英格兰和威尔士人口中的视力障碍发生率进行量化和分类。这项回顾性研究调查了16岁以下儿童视力障碍认证的趋势。
提取并评估认证办公室提供的儿童视力障碍（CVI）数据，以确定2009年至2022年间轻度至中度（SI）和重度（SSI）视力障碍的各种原因。数据被分为11个病理相似的大类。发病率数据使用官方人口普查数据计算。采用拜尔方法计算置信区间，以确定每年或研究期间记录超过5例登记的疾病在4个早期时间段内新登记数量的显著变化。
2009年至2022年间，有18387例新登记（10915例SI和7472例SSI）。中枢神经系统疾病（4145例）、视网膜疾病（2990例）和眼部先天性异常（4491例）占登记总数的近2/3。在SI登记中，除新冠疫情第一年外，这3组在13年期间显著增加。然而，先天性异常的SSI登记显著减少。
总体而言，英格兰和威尔士登记为SI/SSI的儿童数量在增加。主要原因是：中枢神经系统疾病、视网膜疾病和眼部先天性异常。这可能是由于意识提高、早期筛查和基因检测的进步。
