Abstract
Purpose :
To report incidence rates of legal blindness from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other causes in Denmark in the period from 2010 to 2016 in the population aged 50 years and older.
Methods :
Population-based observational registry study using the membership register of the Danish Association of the Blind, the primary admission criterion of which is best-corrected visual acuity 0.1 (20/200) or lower in a person's better-seeing eye. Incident cases of legal blindness were tabulated for the population of citizens aged ≥50 years, which is where blindness from AMD occurs. The entire population in Denmark has free access to a single-payer public health care system. The main outcome measure was the change in the incidence rate of legal blindness from AMD from 2010 to 2016.
Results :
The incidence rate of legal blindness attributable to AMD in citizens aged 50 years or older decreased from 25.7 cases per year per 100 000 in 2010 to 15.9 cases per year per 100 000 in 2016, corresponding to a reduction of 38 % (P < .0001, adjusted for age). The incidence of legal blindness from causes other than AMD was 10.6 cases per year per 100 000 in 2010 and 9.6 cases per year per 100 000 in 2016 and fluctuated around this level throughout the period of observation.
Conclusions :
Legal blindness from AMD continued the decline observed between 2000 and 2010, where the incidence rate fell to 50 % of the year 2000 baseline. Thus, an additional decrease of 20 %, again compared to the year 2000 baseline, was seen from 2010 to 2016. This observation supports that ongoing efforts to prevent blindness from AMD have been effective. A cost-effectiveness analysis was not included in this study. No information was available about the incidence of visual impairment milder than legal blindness. The stagnating decline in blindness from causes other than AMD should prompt further analysis.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.