Blindness incidence in Germany - A population-based study from Württemberg-Hohenzollern

Few data on the incidence of blindness in Germany are available. We analysed causes of legal blindness for the region Württemberg-Hohenzollern (population 5.5 million) in order to help fill in this gap. Material and Methods: Population-based investigation on the incidence of legal blindness (visual acuity <1/50) based on materials from the social servies. Age-dependent blindness incidences were modelled via logistic regression models. Results: 647 blind persons were newly registered in 1994 (blindness incidence 11.6/100,000). The blindness incidence is moderate in infants (4.5/100,000) and decreases further during childhood. At the age of 20 years, the incidence again rises to the former level and remains relatively constant. After the age of 60 years, the incidence increases sharply: 5-year odds ratios are 1.76 (CI: 1.68-1.85) in women and 1.72 (CI: 1.60-1.84) in men. The blindness incidence is higher in women, 15.6/100,000, compared to 12.2/100,000 in men. The major causes of blindness are: macular degeneration, 3.92/100,000; diabetic retinopathy, 2.01/100,000; glaucoma, 1.6/100,000; high myopia, 0.77/100,000; optic atrophy, 0.68/100,000; central nervous system-triggered blindness; 0.56/100,000, and tapetoretinal degenerations, 0.52/100,000. Discussion: Due to monetary incentives for the blind persons, social service files offer accurate and complete data. Besides macular degeneration, glaucoma and dia betic retinopathy are major causes of blindness. Thus, this study suggests further blindness prevention activities for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma

Cataract Blindness: Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Treatment Barriers and High Blindness Rates for Women in Rural Regions of Andhra Pradesh

Despite efforts of Vision 2020 in India, the 2001 Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) extrapolated that approximately 18.7 million blind people resided in India and projected an increase to 31.6 million blind people by 2020. Within the Andhra Pradesh state itself, the preventable blindness population had increased from approximately 1,143,150 people in 1990 to 1,402,264 people in 2001, against reformation attempts by the National Program for Control of Blindness. Of this, cataracts were consistently the leading cause of avoidable blindness. Numerous public health studies have been conducted to outline factors that preclude treatment of avoidable cataract blindness in the India. Conclusively, the escalation of cataract blindness can be largely attributed to personal, social, and economic factors that inhibit utilization of available eye-care services. However, the degree and specificity of these respective barriers varies due to the heterogeneity among regions within Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, no single approach can be implemented to effectively ameliorate eye health. Instead, population-based studies are required to understand individual regions and respective levels of need. Accordingly, this research is an examination of the female population in rural regions of Andhra Pradesh through the analysis of two major studies (1) the impact of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on economic development and (2) socioeconomic factors engendering lack of utilization of eye-care services, in order to find a correlation between these two seemingly disparate studies. Overwhelmingly, the presence of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increases the economic status of regions by increasing access to both education and employment opportunities. In comparison to developed, urban areas, NGOs presence in rural regions are significantly limited, leading to discrepancies in economic development and thereafter, lack of opportunity for economic and social growth for Cataract Blindness: Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Treatment Barriers and High Blindness Rates for Women in Rural Regions of Andhra Pradesh By Kiranpreet Kaur A U C T U S // VCU’s Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creativity // STEM// February 2018 2 females. Correspondingly, for years, higher incidences of cataract blindness have plagued the female population residing in underdeveloped rural areas of India, especially in comparison to female counterparts in urban areas. I found this to be significantly attributed to an intermittent and cyclic combination of socioeconomic limitations, specifically to lack of education/employment opportunities and cultural restrictions. This in turn, is linked to comparably diminished levels of private/NGO sector involvement. Only through understanding the correlation between these two aspects can intervention efforts be appropriately pursued to reduce cataract blindness rates in the female population. This work increases our understanding of the limitations that exist in accessing treatment options for females and furthermore, obtained results can potentially be extended to other regions of India to create and implement similar public policies

Prevelence and causes of visual impairment and blindness in older adults in an area of India with a high cataract surgical rate.

BACKGROUND: The cataract surgical rate (CSR) in Gujarat, India is reported to be above 10,000 per million population. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence and causes of vision impairment/blindness among older adults in a high CSR area. METHODS: Geographically defined cluster sampling was used in randomly selecting persons >or= 50 years of age in Navsari district. Subjects in 35 study clusters were enumerated and invited for measurement of presenting and best-corrected visual acuity and an ocular examination. The principal cause was identified for eyes with presenting visual acuity < 20/32. RESULTS: A total of 5158 eligible persons were enumerated and 4738 (91.9%) examined. Prevalence of presenting visual impairment < 20/63 to 20/200 in the better eye was 29.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 27.5-31.2) and 13.5% (95% CI: 12.0-14.9) with best correction. The prevalence of presenting bilateral blindness (< 20/200) was 6.9% (95% CI: 5.7-8.1), and 3.1% (95% CI: 2.5-3.7) with best correction. Presenting and best-corrected blindness were both associated with older age and illiteracy; gender and rural/urban residence were not significant. Cataract in one or both eyes was the main cause of bilateral blindness (82.6%), followed by retinal disorders (8.9%). Cataract (50.3%) and refractive error (35.4%) were the main causes in eyes with vision acuity < 20/63 to 20/200, and refractive error (86.6%) in eyes with acuity < 20/32 to 20/63. CONCLUSIONS: Visual impairment and blindness is a significant problem among the elderly in Gujarat. Despite a reportedly high CSR, cataract remains the predominant cause of blindness

Color identification testing device

Testing device, which determines ability of a technician to identify color-coded electric wires, is superior to standard color blindness tests. It tests speed of wire selection, detects partial color blindness, allows rapid testing, and may be administered by a color blind person

When Good Observers Go Bad: Change Blindness, Inattentional Blindness, and Visual Experience

Several studies (e.g., Becklen & Cervone, 1983; Mack & Rock, 1998; Neisser & Becklen, 1975) have found that observers attending to a particular object or event often fail to report the presence of unexpected items. This has been interpreted as inattentional blindness (IB), a failure to see unattended items (Mack & Rock, 1998). Meanwhile, other studies (e.g., Pashler, 1988; Phillips, 1974; Rensink et al., 1997; Simons, 1996) have found that observers often fail to report the presence of large changes in a display when these changes occur simultaneously with a transient such as an eye movement or flash of the display. This has been interpreted as change blindness (CB), a failure to see unattended changes (Rensink et al., 1997). In both cases there is a striking failure to report an object or event that would be quite visible under other circumstances. And in both cases there is a widespread (although not universal) belief that the underlying cause has to do with the absence of attention. The question then arises as to how these effects might be related. Is CB the same thing as IB? If not, what is the relation between them? And given that these phenomena deal with failures of subjective perception, what can they teach us about the nature of our visual experience? In particular, what can they teach us about the role played by visual attention

Book Review of Ronald B. Hoch and David P. Smith’s Old School, New Clothes: The Cultural Blindness of Christian Education

Excerpt: In Old Schoo; New Clothes, Hoch and Smith accuse Christian schools of being blind to the forces and forms of modernity, in fact not only blind, but founded on the very same principles as public schools. This cultural blindness extends to the institutions that train Christian school teachers, to administrators, teachers and parents. Hoch and Smith want to explore the roots of this widespread cultural blindness and its effects, and they want to point to ways forward

Attention, Fixation, and Change Blindness

The topic of this paper is the complex interaction between attention, fixation, and one species of change blindness. The two main interpretations of the target phenomenon are the ‘blindness’ interpretation and the ‘inaccessibility’ interpretation. These correspond to the sparse view (Dennett 1991; Tye, 2007) and the rich view (Dretske 2007; Block, 2007a, 2007b) of visual consciousness respectively. Here I focus on the debate between Fred Dretske and Michael Tye. Section 1 describes the target phenomenon and the dialectics it entails. Section 2 explains how attention and fixation weigh in these debates, and argues that Dretske’s hyper-rich view fails precisely because he overlooks certain effects of attention and fixation. Section 3 explains why Tye’s view is also unsatisfying, mainly because he misconceives the degree of access. Section 4 then puts forward the positive model covariance, which has it that the degree of cognitive access tracks the degree of phenomenology, and contrasts it with Block’s view on the Sperling iconic memory paradigm. The paper ends with a discussion of levels of seeing, which involve crowding, indexing, and other visual phenomena. Change ‘blindness’ is a set of phenomena that was discovered about two decades ago, yet an entirely satisfying understanding is still lacking. To move forward, a more detailed understanding of attention and fixation is called for

A proposed rapid methodology to assess the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment.

PURPOSE: To determine whether a sample of the 50-year-old and above population would provide comparable information to a total population-based survey. METHODS: In 1996, a national eye survey of the total population in The Gambia was undertaken and the results concerning the prevalence and distribution of blindness and low vision have been reported. The same data set was used to analyse the prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision in people aged 50 years and above, and to compare the findings with the total population. RESULTS: Of 55 bilaterally blind people in the total population, 83.6% were 50 years of age or older. The distribution by cause of blindness was similar for the total population and for those aged 50 years and above. Cataract and uncorrected aphakia accounted for 46% and 13%, respectively, in the total population and 48% and 15% in the 50 year and above age group. Trachoma accounted for 5% and 4%, and other corneal opacities for 16% and 13%, respectively. Phthisis bulbi, which may follow perforated corneal ulcers, ocular trauma/surgery or occasionally severe uveitis, accounted for 4% in both age groups, and glaucoma accounted for 9% in the total population and 11% in the 50 year plus group. CONCLUSION: Assessment of the 50 year and above age group proved to be a good indicator for the causes of blindness and visual impairment in the total population and for determining those causes of blindness that are avoidable. Such an assessment requires a much smaller sample size, less than 20% of the sample size for the total population, and is likely to be less expensive