A study predicting a five-fold increase in vision impairment due to myopic macular degeneration (MMD) by 2050 will be “critical to planning and informing strategies for prevention and management”, says Professor Kovin Naidoo, CEO Brien Holden Vision Institute and study co-author.
Published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, the study authors said the dramatic rise in vision impairment due to MMD is a likely consequence of the growing prevalence of myopia globally.
The study found an estimated 10 million people were vision impaired due to MMD in 2015 (3.3 million of whom were blind), and projected this number to rise to 55.7 million (including 18.5 million who will be blind) by 2050. Conducted by researchers at Brien Holden Vision Institute and Singapore Eye Institute, the study is the first to estimate the global prevalence of MMD, one of several potentially blinding conditions associated with myopia.
This analysis will complement estimates on these other conditions, and will be critical to planning and informing strategies for prevention and management as health care systems adapt to the dramatic increase in the number of people with vision impairment
The authors report that global myopia and high myopia prevalence is projected to continue to rise as a consequence of “trends in lifestyle, education and demographics.” Prof. Naidoo said that along with MMD there is likely to be an increase in the number of people with cataract, glaucoma and retinal pathologies such as tears and detachment.
“This analysis will complement estimates on these other conditions, and will be critical to planning and informing strategies for prevention and management as health care systems adapt to the dramatic increase in the number of people with vision impairment,” he says.
The study is an open-access publication and can be viewed freely.
