Time Trends of Etiologies of Blindness in Israel 2009-2020:Have Methods to Decrease Leading Causes of Blindness Been Exhausted?

Israeli, Asaf; Peer, Hani; Gleitman, Ilana; Falick, Yishay; Mezer, Eedy

doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2022.03.010

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…We conducted a descriptive, retrospective population-based trend study and analysed the incidence of paediatric blindness certificates issued between 2014 and 2020. The various available aetiologies for blindness in the application form for certification are listed in previous publications [ 4 , 8 ]. Information on the size of the population (age ≤ 18 years) during the study period was obtained from the publicly available database of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [ 9 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children are referred for evaluation after having failed the visual acuity screening test or if they are afflicted with a medical condition that causes severe visual impairment (Supplementary Table 1 ). Further details regarding this structured process have been previously described [ 4 , 8 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Complete eye examination included age-appropriate, best-corrected visual acuity assessment, a thorough ophthalmological examination, and visual field testing where applicable. Additional aspects have been previously specified [ 4 , 8 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Any diagnosis made by a referring ophthalmologist was confirmed by the consultant. The results of the visual acuity and visual field assessments for each eye, as well as the major and minor causes for visual impairment, were recorded on the application form that contains a list of 31 possible causes [ 4 , 8 ]. Details of the remainder of this structured process have been previously published [ 4 , 8 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of the visual acuity and visual field assessments for each eye, as well as the major and minor causes for visual impairment, were recorded on the application form that contains a list of 31 possible causes [ 4 , 8 ]. Details of the remainder of this structured process have been previously published [ 4 , 8 ]. The structured classification in the application form did not discern Retinitis pigmentosa coding from different types of retinal dystrophies (RDYS), including cone dystrophies, cone-rod dystrophy, and rod-cone dystrophies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood blindness incidence and aetiologies trends in Israel 2014–2020: what should we focus on?

Israeli

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Gleitman

et al. 2022

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Objectives Analyse trends in incidence and aetiologies of childhood blindness (CHB) in Israel during 2014–2020, with comparison to the previous decade. Methods Descriptive, retrospective population-based trend study using Poisson regression. Data retrieved from the Israeli National Registry of the Blind included demographics, registration-years, and aetiologies. Primary and secondary outcomes were incidence of new certified blindness cases and its comparison with the previous decade, respectively. Results In total, 4.19 new CHB certificates per 100,000 were issued in Israel during 2014–2020, with a slight non-significant increase ( p = 0.31). Males and younger children had higher incidence rates ( p = 0.0008 and p = 0.0002, respectively). Leading causes were optic nerve anomalies (ONA), retinal dystrophies (RDYS), other retinal disorders (ORD) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI) (16.9%, 15.1%, 12.4% and 10.5%, respectively). Compared with the previous decade: ONA rates remained unchanged ( p = 0.13) as did some other main aetiologies (i.e., albinism, CVI and nystagmus), while rates of RDYS and ORD increased (by 21.9%, p = 0.001 and 9.9% p = 0.02, respectively). Rates of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), glaucoma, cataract and amblyopia remained very low (weighted average of 0.15, 0.14, 0.09 and 0.03 per 100,000, respectively). Conclusions The incidence of CHB certifications in Israel remained stable with a slight increase, stemming chiefly from RDYS resurgence and an increase in ORD. Main causes remained ONA and RDYS. The most common avoidable cause, ROP, remained scarce, maintaining the reduction seen in the earlier decade, as did cataract, glaucoma, and amblyopia. This may support future nationwide prevention policies to decrease the incidence of RDYS and ORD.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%