Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate national burden of eye diseases in Iran and to compare changes in the burden from 1990 to 2010 by age and sex.
Methods:
Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in Iran is reported for 4 different eye diseases including cataract, refraction/accommodation (functional) disorders, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, using "the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Iran Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010) Results 1990-2010. Seattle, United States: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), 2013". DALY for each disease is compared between 1990 and 2010, among 20 age groups from early neonatal phase to 80 years of age and older and among males and females.
Results:
In Iran, cataract, refraction/accommodation (functional) disorders, macular degeneration, and glaucoma were the 84th, 87th, 138th, and 151st causes of DALY in 1990 and 89th, 72nd, 99th, and 137th in 2010, respectively. Cataract accounted for 0.085% of national DALY in 1990 and 0.09% in 2010, refraction/accommodation (functional) disorders accounted for 0.42% in 1990 and 0.47% in 2010, macular degeneration accounted for 0.017% in 1990 and 0.071% in 2010, and glaucoma accounted for 0.0099% in 1990 and 0.025% in 2010. There was steady increase in DALY with age for each eye disease for both genders and among males and females in 1990 to 2010. The point-by-point comparison of DALY attributed to cataract and refraction/accommodation (functional) disorders showed a decrease for each specific age group from 1990 to 2010 for both sexes and among males and females. For macular degeneration it showed an increase for each specific age group from 1990 to 2010 for both sexes and among males and females. For glaucoma it showed slight change for each specific age group from 1990 to 2010 for both sexes and among males and females with slight decrease in some age groups and slight increase in others.
Conclusions:
Total DALY and relative contribution to national disease burden of vision-impairing conditions have increased which underscore the age-related nature of blinding conditions and epidemiologic transition. This is most evident in case of macular degeneration. The point-by-point decrease in DALY related to functional visual impairment and cataract is attributable to the treatability of these conditions and popularity and effectiveness of cataract surgery.
Keywords: 460 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower •
459 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology