Visual impairment and blindness among children: A literature review

IF 1.7 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health Pub Date : 2025-06-14 DOI:10.1016/j.cegh.2025.102094

Soukaina Loulidi , Mohamed Loukid , Samia Boussaa

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Blindness and visual impairment in children are a serious problem that affects their daily lives. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence, causes, and risk factors of this ophthalmological problem worldwide.

Methods

To do this, we carried out an in-depth search on several databases such as PubMed and Scopus, using the keywords « visual impairment » OR/AND « blindness » AND « children » AND « epidemiology » AND « causes ». Thus, 696 articles covering the period 2000–2024 were consulted, and 50 of them were selected based on eligibility criteria.

Results

The results showed a high disease prevalence in Australia and Africa, compared to the other continents. The retina was the most affected anatomical site (26 %), followed by the lens (22 %). Moreover, cataract, corneal opacities, corneal scar were the main causes in low-income countries, while retinopathy of prematurity, cataract and refractive error were the main causes in moderate-high-income countries. Regarding risk factors the indetermined aetiology represented the highest rates in both low and moderate-high income countries (40 %, 36.84 % each) in our review. The causes of visual impairment and blindness are preventable, with rates ranging from 13.6 % to 94 %.

Conclusion

This study has allowed us to identify the global extent of blindness and visual impairment in children.

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儿童视力损害与失明：文献综述

儿童失明和视力障碍是影响他们日常生活的严重问题。本研究的目的是评估世界范围内这种眼科问题的患病率、原因和危险因素。方法在PubMed和Scopus等多个数据库中进行深入检索，检索关键词为“视力障碍”或/和“失明”、“儿童”、“流行病学”和“病因”。因此，在2000年至2024年期间共查阅了696篇文章，并根据合格标准选择了其中的50篇。结果与其他大洲相比，澳大利亚和非洲的患病率较高。视网膜是最受影响的解剖部位（26%），其次是晶状体（22%）。此外，白内障、角膜混浊、角膜瘢痕是低收入国家的主要原因，而早产儿视网膜病变、白内障和屈光不正是中高收入国家的主要原因。关于风险因素，在我们的回顾中，不确定病因在低收入和中高收入国家的发生率最高（分别为40%和36.84%）。视力损害和失明的原因是可以预防的，其发生率从13.6%到94%不等。结论本研究使我们能够确定儿童失明和视力损害的全球范围。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

7.70%

发文量

218

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health (CEGH) is a multidisciplinary journal and it is published four times (March, June, September, December) a year. The mandate of CEGH is to promote articles on clinical epidemiology with focus on developing countries in the context of global health. We also accept articles from other countries. It publishes original research work across all disciplines of medicine and allied sciences, related to clinical epidemiology and global health. The journal publishes Original articles, Review articles, Evidence Summaries, Letters to the Editor. All articles published in CEGH are peer-reviewed and published online for immediate access and citation.