Global burden of disease and visual impairment.

摘要

Alan Lopez and colleagues (May 27, p 1747)1 rank the top ten causes of burden of disease in terms of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in low-income, middle-income, and high-incomecountries. However, they did not include visual impairment.Lopez and colleagues used data from the World Bank publication Global burden of disease and risk factors, which lists causes of visual impairment separately as onchocerciasis, trachoma, vitamin A deficiency, glaucoma, cataract and age-related visual disorders. The sum of DALYs from these conditions is 53 692 000 (3-5%), ranking seventh. Assuming that visual impairment isalso responsible for half the diabetes burden, vision-related DALYs rise to 66290 000 (4-3%), ranking six-just below HIV/AIDS at71460 000 (47%). The number of people affected by HIV/AIDS is 42 million,compared with the l6l million with visual impairment.