Cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence and causes of vision impairment in Northwest Portugal using capture-recapture

Pedro Lima Ramos; Rui Santana; Ana Patricia Marques; Ines Sousa; Amandio Rocha-Sousa; Antonio Filipe Macedo

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056995

Cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence and causes of vision impairment in Northwest Portugal using capture-recapture

BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 8;12(9):e056995. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056995.

Authors

Pedro Lima Ramos^{1

2}, Rui Santana³, Ana Patricia Marques^{3

4}, Ines Sousa⁵, Amandio Rocha-Sousa^{6

7}, Antonio Filipe Macedo^{8

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine and Optometry, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden.
² Low Vision and Visual Rehabilitation Lab, Department and Center of Physics - Optometry and Vision Science, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
³ Escola Nacional Saude Publica, Comprehensive Health Research Centre Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴ International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁵ Department of Mathematics and Applications and Center of Molecular and Environmental Biology, School of Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
⁶ Department of Surgery and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁷ Department of ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de São João, Porto, Portugal.
⁸ Department of Medicine and Optometry, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden a.macedo@ucl.ac.uk.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and causes of vision impairment (VI) in Portugal.

Setting: Information about people with VI was obtained from primary care centres, blind association (ACAPO) and from hospitals (the PCVIP study) in the Northwest of Portugal during a period spanning years 2014-2015. Causes of VI were obtained from hospitals.

Participants: Administrative and medical records of people with visual acuity in the better seeing eye of 0.5 decimal (0.30logMAR) or worse and/or visual field less than 20° were investigated. Capture-recapture with log-linear models was applied to estimate the number of individuals missing from lists of cases obtained from available sources.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: Log-linear models were used to estimate the crude prevalence and the category specific prevalence of VI.

Results: Crude prevalence of VI was 1.97% (95% CI 1.56% to 2.54%), and standardised prevalence was 1% (95% CI 0.78% to 1.27%). The age-specific prevalence was 3.27% (95% CI 2.36% to 4.90%), older than 64 years, 0.64% (95% CI 0.49% to 0.88%), aged 25-64 years, and 0.07% (95% CI 0.045% to 0.13%), aged less than 25 years. The female-to-male ratio was 1.3, that is, higher prevalence among females. The five leading causes of VI were diabetic retinopathy, cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and disorders of the globe.

Conclusions: The prevalence of VI in Portugal was within the expected range and in line with other European countries. A significant number of cases of VI might be due to preventable cases and, therefore, a reduction of the prevalence of VI in Portugal seems possible. Women and old people were more likely to have VI and, therefore, these groups require extra attention. Future studies are necessary to characterise temporal changes in prevalence of VI in Portugal.

Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy; EPIDEMIOLOGY; OPHTHALMOLOGY.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Blindness / complications
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Glaucoma*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Portugal
Prevalence
Vision Disorders / etiology
Visual Acuity
Visually Impaired Persons*