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BackgroundThe majority of vision loss is preventable or treatable. Population surveys are crucial for planning, implementation, and monitoring policies and interventions to eliminate avoidable blindness and visual impairments. This is the first rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) study in Thailand.MethodsA cross-sectional study of a population in Thailand age 50 years old or over aimed to assess the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairments. Using the Thailand National Census 2010 as the sampling frame, a stratified four-stage cluster sampling based on a probability proportional to size was conducted in 176 enumeration areas from 11 provinces. Participants received comprehensive eye examination by ophthalmologists.ResultsThe age and sex adjusted prevalence of blindness (presenting visual acuity (VA) <20/400), severe visual impairment (VA <20/200 but ≥20/400), and moderate visual impairment (VA <20/70 but ≥20/200) were 0.6% (95% CI: 0.5–0.8), 1.3% (95% CI: 1.0–1.6), 12.6% (95% CI: 10.8–14.5). There was no significant difference among the four regions of Thailand. Cataract was the main cause of vision loss accounted for 69.7% of blindness. Cataract surgical coverage in persons was 95.1% for cut off VA of 20/400. Refractive errors, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and corneal opacities were responsible for 6.0%, 5.1%, 4.0%, and 2.0% of blindness respectively.ConclusionThailand is on track to achieve the goal of VISION 2020. However, there is still much room for improvement. Policy refinements and innovative interventions are recommended to alleviate blindness and visual impairments especially regarding the backlog of blinding cataract, management of non-communicative, chronic, age-related eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy, prevention of childhood blindness, and establishment of a robust eye health information system.

Background To evaluate the effectiveness of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) and intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) in actual practice for treating patients with retinal diseases in Thailand. Methods A prospective, multi-centre, observational study was conducted among eight hospitals in their ophthalmology outpatient departments. Participants consisted of patients who had previously not received any IVB or IVR treatment between 2013 and 2014. The primary outcome measurement was the change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at the end of the follow-up period compared to baseline. Results There were 1629 treatment-naïve patients for the pro re nata (PRN) treatment pattern and 226 treatment-naive patients for the three-injections (3Inj) treatment pattern. BCVA improvements were found in 35% of the PRN group and 47% of the 3Inj group; however, it was not clinically meaningful between the IVB and IVR groups ( P -value = 0.568 for PRN, P-value = 0.103 for 3Inj). A multivariable logistic regression (using the propensity score) showed that positive factors associated with vision improvement for the PRN pattern were the number of drug injections, having retinal vein occlusion, and under 60 years of age, while good BCVA at baseline was a negative predictive factor. For the 3Inj pattern, under 60 years of age and baseline BCVA were statistically significant predictors. Nonetheless, diabetes mellitus (DM) without other comorbidities was a statistically significant predictor of low response to vision improvement compared to DM with other comorbidities. Conclusions This study was the first observational, prospective study to evaluate the real-life effectiveness of IVB and IVR in Thailand. The majority of participants who used IVB or IVR showed improvements in BCVA after treatment. Further evaluation such as long-term follow-ups and subsequent comparison of effectiveness between IVB and IVR should be investigated due to the limited sample of IVR patients. Trial registration Thai Clinical Trial Registry TCTR20141002001 . Registered 02 October 2014 (retrospectively registered).

To study the choroid in uncomplicated pregnant women using advanced optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and analysis. Methods: Women with uncomplicated pregnancy in the third trimester (>28 weeks gestational age) and age-matched nonpregnant women were enrolled in this prospective study. All subjects underwent spectral-domain OCT with enhanced depth imaging mode and spectral-domain optical coherent tomography angiography (OCTA). Main outcomes were subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), choroidal vascularity index (CVI), and choriocapillaris flow deficits (CC FD). Results: Twenty-two eyes of 12 uncomplicated pregnant women and 23 eyes of 15 nonpregnant, female controls were included. The mean age was 32.27 ± 6.96 years for the pregnant group and 30.08 ± 5.49 years for control group (P > 0.05). Mean SFCT was 238.70 ± 82.96 μm in the pregnant group, and 277.40 ± 61.79 μm in the control group. CVI was 67.58% ± 2.45% in the pregnant group and 67.31% ± 2.62% in the control group. The CC FD% was 54.06 ± 3.95 in the pregnant group, and 55.02 ± 3.78 in the control group. There was no significant difference between the pregnant and control groups (P > 0.05) in SFCT, CVI or CC FD. Conclusions: Although extensive hemodynamic changes occurred with pregnancy, choroidal measurements by OCT and OCTA demonstrated no differences in uncomplicated third-trimester pregnant women compared with nonpregnant controls. Translational Relevance: The unaltered choroid in uncomplicated third-trimester pregnancy we described allows clinicians to determine whether abnormal choroidal measurements could be used as a biomarker for complications of pregnancy.

BackgroundThere is very limited evidence examining serious systemic adverse events (SSAEs) and post-injection endophthalmitis of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) and intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) treatments in Thailand and low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, findings from the existing trials might have limited generalizability to certain populations and rare SSAEs.ObjectivesThis prospective observational study aimed to assess and compare the safety profiles of IVB and IVR in patients with retinal diseases in Thailand.MethodsBetween 2013 and 2015, 6354 patients eligible for IVB or IVR were recruited from eight hospitals. Main outcomes measures were prevalence and risk of SSAEs, mortality, and endophthalmitis during the 6-month follow-up period.ResultsIn the IVB and IVR groups, 94 and 6% of patients participated, respectively. The rates of outcomes in the IVB group were slightly greater than in the IVR group. All-cause mortality rates in the IVB and IVR groups were 1.10 and 0.53%, respectively. Prevalence rates of endophthalmitis and non-fatal strokes in the IVB group were 0.04% of 16,421 injections and 0.27% of 5975 patients, respectively, whereas none of these events were identified in the IVR group. There were no differences between the two groups in the risks of mortality, arteriothrombotic events (ATE), and non-fatal heart failure (HF). Adjustment for potential confounding factors and selection bias using multivariable models for time-to-event outcomes and propensity scores did not alter the results.ConclusionsThe rates of SAEs in both groups were low. The IVB and IVR treatments were not associated with significant risks of mortality, ATE, and non-fatal HF.Trial RegistrationThai Clinical Trial Registry identifier TCTR20141002001.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40261-018-0678-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.