Table 5.
Six-year Incidence of Low Vision and Blindness (Based on US Definition, Better-Seeing Eye)
| Vision Status | Age (Year) | Overall |
Malay |
Indian |
Chinese |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At Risk | Case (%) | At Risk | Case (%) | At Risk | Case (%) | At Risk | Case (%) | |||
| Based on presenting VA | Incident low vision∗ | 40–49 | 1657 | 85 (5.1) | 487 | 32 (6.6) | 614 | 32 (5.2) | 556 | 21 (3.8) |
| 50–59 | 2087 | 143 (6.9) | 572 | 54 (9.4) | 655 | 42 (6.4) | 860 | 47 (5.5) | ||
| 60–69 | 1299 | 164 (12.6) | 316 | 67 (21.2) | 426 | 37 (8.7) | 557 | 60 (10.8) | ||
| 70+ | 501 | 115 (23.0) | 146 | 56 (38.4) | 140 | 20 (14.3) | 215 | 39 (18.1) | ||
| Total | 5544 | 507 (9.2) | 1521 | 209 (13.7) | 1835 | 131 (7.1) | 2188 | 167 (7.6) | ||
| Age-standardized† (95% CI) | 9.4 (8.5–10.3) | 13.0 (11.3–15.0) | 7.0 (5.8–8.4) | 7.7 (6.5–9.0) | ||||||
| Incident blindness∗ | 40–49 | 1805 | 0 (0.0) | 533 | 0 (0.0) | 665 | 0 (0.00) | 607 | 0 (0.0) | |
| 50–59 | 2390 | 3 (0.1) | 666 | 2 (0.3) | 759 | 1 (0.13) | 965 | 0 (0.0) | ||
| 60–69 | 1680 | 5 (0.3) | 419 | 2 (0.5) | 561 | 2 (0.36) | 700 | 1 (0.1) | ||
| 70+ | 840 | 15 (1.8) | 258 | 11 (4.3) | 206 | 0 (0.0) | 376 | 4 (1.1) | ||
| Total | 6715 | 23 (0.3) | 1876 | 15 (0.8) | 2191 | 3 (0.1) | 2648 | 5 (0.2) | ||
| Age-standardized† (95% CI) | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 0.6 (0.4–1.1) | 0.1 (0.02–0.4) | 0.2 (0.06–0.5) | ||||||
| Based on best-corrected VA | Incident low vision∗ | 40–49 | 1800 | 12 (0.7) | 530 | 5 (0.9) | 664 | 5 (0.8) | 606 | 2 (0.3) |
| 50–59 | 2370 | 34 (1.4) | 653 | 19 (2.9) | 755 | 10 (1.3) | 962 | 5 (0.5) | ||
| 60–69 | 1628 | 75 (4.6) | 401 | 38 (9.5) | 541 | 15 (2.8) | 686 | 22 (3.2) | ||
| 70+ | 721 | 96 (13.3) | 211 | 46 (21.8) | 183 | 17 (9.3) | 327 | 33 (10.1) | ||
| Total | 6519 | 217 (3.3) | 1795 | 108 (6.0) | 2143 | 47 (2.2) | 2581 | 62 (2.4) | ||
| Age-standardized† (95% CI) | 3.3 (2.9–3.8) | 5.1 (4.1–6.2) | 2.1 (1.5–2.9) | 2.3 (1.8–3.0) | ||||||
| Incident blindness∗ | 40–49 | 1809 | 0 (0.00) | 536 | 0 (0.0) | 665 | 0 (0.0) | 608 | 0 (0.0) | |
| 50–59 | 2393 | 1 (0.04) | 667 | 1 (0.2) | 760 | 0 (0.0) | 966 | 0 (0.0) | ||
| 60–69 | 1683 | 2 (0.1) | 418 | 1 (0.2) | 563 | 1 (0.2) | 702 | 0 (0.0) | ||
| 70+ | 847 | 11 (1.3) | 261 | 7 (2.7) | 208 | 1 (0.5) | 378 | 3 (0.8) | ||
| Total | 6732 | 14 (0.2) | 1882 | 9 (0.5) | 2196 | 2 (0.09) | 2654 | 3 (0.1) | ||
| Age-standardized† (95% CI) | 0.2 (0.1–0.4) | 0.4 (0.2–0.8) | 0.1 (0.01–0.4) | 0.1 (0.02–0.4) | ||||||
CI = confidence interval; US = United States; VA = visual acuity.
∗
Based on US definition—low vision was defined as VA < 20/40 but ≥ 20/200; blindness was defined as VA < 20/200.
†
Incidences were evaluated and standardized to Singapore Population Census 2010.