Corneal opacities impose substantial avoidable vision loss in India
A nationally representative study by Gupta et al. used Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness methodology across 31 districts for adults aged 50 years and older and six districts for younger age groups to estimate the prevalence and demographic factors associated with visual impairment and blindness due to corneal opacities in India.
Key Findings:
- The study examined 85,135 participants aged 50 years and older across 31 districts and 13,695 participants aged 0–49 years across six districts in India.
- Among adults aged 50 years and older, avoidable blindness due to corneal opacities affected 17.1 per 10,000 people. Avoidable moderate to severe visual impairment or blindness due to corneal opacities affected 26.9 per 10,000 people.
- The national burden in 2023 was estimated at 0.88 million people with avoidable corneal-opacity-related blindness and 1.73 million with avoidable moderate to severe visual impairment or blindness due to corneal opacities.
- Of adults aged 50 years and older with corneal-opacity-related blindness, 68% retained light perception and were potentially amenable to keratoplasty, while 32% had no light perception and required vision rehabilitation.
- The prevalence of moderate to severe visual impairment or blindness due to corneal opacities increased from 10.4 per 10,000 among adults aged 50–59 years to 130.4 per 10,000 among those aged 80 years and above; prevalence was also higher among people with no formal education than among those with secondary education or above (44.4 vs 7.9 per 10,000).
Reference: Gupta V, Vashist P, Sarath S, et al. Burden of blindness and visual impairment associated with corneal opacities in India. Br J Ophthalmol. 2025;109:829-836. doi:10.1136/bjo-2024-325763.
