@article{discovery10078191,
          volume = {103},
            year = {2019},
           title = {Prevalence and causes of vision loss in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015: magnitude, temporal trends and projections},
          number = {7},
            note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.},
       publisher = {BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP},
           month = {July},
           pages = {885--893},
         journal = {British Journal of Ophthalmology},
            issn = {1468-2079},
          author = {Leasher, JL and Braithwaite, T and Furtado, JM and Flaxman, SR and Lansingh, VC and Silva, JC and Resnikoff, S and Taylor, HR and Bourne, RRA and Bourne, R and Ackland, P and Arditi, A and Barkana, Y and Bozkurt, B and Bron, A and Budenz, D and Cai, F and Casson, R and Chakravarthy, U and Choi, J and Cicinelli, MV and Congdon, N and Dana, R and Dandona, R and Dandona, L and Das, A and Dekaris, I and Del Monte, M and Deva, J and Dirani, M and Dreer, L and Ellwein, L and Frazier, M and Frick, K and Friedman, D and Furtado, J and Gao, H and Gazzard, A and George, R and Gichuhi, S and Gonzalez, V and Hammond, B and Hartnett, ME and He, M and Hejtmancik, J and Hirai, F and Huang, J and Ingram, A and Javitt, J and Jonas, J and Joslin, C and Keeffe, J and Kempen, J and Khairallah, M and Khanna, R and Kim, J and Lambrou, G and Lanzetta, P and Leasher, J and Lim, J and Limburg, H and Mansouri, K and Mathew, A and Morse, A and Munoz, B and Musch, D and Naidoo, K and Nangia, V and Palaiou, M and Parodi, MB and Pena, FY and Tejedor, J and Pesudovs, K and Peto, T and Quigley, H and Raju, M and Ramulu, P and Resnikoff, S and Reza, D and Robin, A and Rossetti, L and Saaddine, J and Sandar, M and Serle, J and Shen, T and Shetty, R and Sieving, P and Silvester, A and Sitorus, RS and Tsilimbaris, M and Stambolian, D and Stevens, G and Taylor, H and Tielsch, J and Topouzis, F and Meurs, J and Varma, R and Virgili, G and Volmink, J and Wang, YX and Wang, N-L and West, S and Wiedemann, P and Wong, T and Wormald, R and Zheng, Y},
             url = {https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311746},
        abstract = {Objective To estimate the prevalence and causes of blindness and vision impairment for distance and near in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2015 and to forecast trends to 2020.

Methods A meta-analysis from a global systematic review of 283 cross-sectional, population-representative studies from published and unpublished sources from 1980 to 2014 in the Global Vision Database included 17 published and 6 unpublished studies from LAC.

Results In 2015, across LAC, age-standardised prevalence was 0.38\% in all ages and 1.56\% in those over age 50 for blindness; 2.06\% in all ages and 7.86\% in those over age 50 for moderate and severe vision impairment (MSVI); 1.89\% in all ages and 6.93\% in those over age 50 for mild vision impairment and 39.59\% in all ages and 45.27\% in those over 50 for near vision impairment (NVI). In 2015, 117.86 million persons were vision impaired; of those 2.34 million blind, 12.46 million with MSVI, 11.34 million mildly impaired and 91.72 million had NVI. Cataract is the most common cause of blindness. Undercorrected refractive-error is the most common cause of vision impairment.

Conclusions These prevalence estimates indicate that one in five persons across LAC had some degree of vision loss in 2015. We predict that from 2015 to 2020, the absolute numbers of persons with vision loss will increase by 12\% to 132.33 million, while the all-age age-standardised prevalence will decrease for blindness by 15\% and for other distance vision impairment by 8\%. All countries need epidemiologic research to establish accurate national estimates and trends. Universal eye health services must be included in universal health coverage reforms to address disparities, fragmentation and segmentation of healthcare}
}