Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by age-related macular degeneration: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020
Authors:   Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study, Furtado João M. , Jonas Jost B. , Tapply Ian , Fernandes Arthur G. , Cicinelli Maria Vittoria , Arrigo Alessandro , Leveziel Nicolas , Resnikoff Serge , Taylor Hugh R. , Sedighi Tabassom , Flaxman Seth , Battaglia Parodi Maurizio , Bikbov Mukkharram M. , Braithwaite Tasanee , Bron Alain , Cheng Ching-Yu , Congdon Nathan , Del Monte Monte A. , Ehrlich Joshua R. , Fricke Tim , Friedman David , Gazzard Gus , Hartnett M. Elizabeth , Kahloun Rim , Kempen John H. , Khairallah Moncef , Khanna Rohit C. , Kim Judy E. , Lansingh Van Charles , Leasher Janet , Naidoo Kovin S. , Nangia Vinay , Nowak Michal , Pesudovs Konrad , Peto Tunde , Ramulu Pradeep , Topouzis Fotis , Tsilimbaris Mitiadis , Wang Ya Xing , Wang Ningli , Bourne Rupert R. A. ,   the GBD 2019 Blindness and Vision Impairment Collaborators, Furtado João M. , Jonas Jost B. , Fernandes Arthur G. , Cicinelli Maria Vittoria , Leveziel Nicolas , Briant Paul Svitil , Vos Theo , Resnikoff Serge , Fischer Florian , Abate Yohannes Habtegiorgis , Abdollahi Mohammad , Adal Tadele Girum Girum , Addo Isaac Yeboah , Adhikari Kishor , Agarwal Prerna , Agodi Antonella , Agyemang-Duah Williams , Ahmad Aqeel , Ahmadieh Hamid , Ahmadzadeh Hooman , Alahdab Fares , Alfaar Ahmad Samir , Alhassan Robert Kaba , Ali Syed Shujait Shujait , Almidani Louay , Androudi Sofia , Anil Abhishek , Anyasodor Anayochukwu Edward , Arabloo Jalal , Ashemo Mubarek Yesse , Athari Seyyed Shamsadin , Atnafu Desta Debalkie , Atreya Alok , Ayalew Melese Kitu , Aynalem Yared Asmare , Aynalem Zewdu Bishaw , Azzam Ahmed Y. , Bagherieh Sara , Bai Ruhai , Barchitta Martina , Bardhan Mainak , Bärnighausen Till Winfried , Bayileyegn Nebiyou Simegnew , Bazvand Fatemeh , Begde Ahmet , Behnam Babak , Bhagavathula Akshaya Srikanth , Bhaskar Sonu , Bhatti Gurjit Kaur , Bhatti Jasvinder Singh , Bintoro Bagas Suryo , Birck Marina G. , Braithwaite Tasanee , Burkart Katrin , Bustanji Yasser , Caetano dos Santos Florentino L. , Carneiro Vera L. A. , Cenderadewi Muthia , Chattu Vijay Kumar , Chu Dinh-Toi , Coberly Kaleb , Cruz-Martins Natália , Dadras Omid , Dai Xiaochen , Dascalu Ana Maria , Dashti Mohsen , Dastiridou Anna , Dastmardi Maedeh , Deng Xinlei , Dervenis Nikolaos , Devanbu Vinoth Gnana Chellaiyan , Diress Mengistie , Djalalinia Shirin , Ehrlich Joshua R. , Ekholuenetale Michael , Ekundayo Temitope Cyrus , El Sayed Iman , Elhadi Muhammed , Emamverdi Mehdi , Emrie Ambaw Abebaw , Fagbamigbe Adeniyi Francis , Fahim Ayesha , Farooq Umar , Farrokhpour Hossein , Fatehizadeh Ali , Feizkhah Alireza , Ferro Desideri Lorenzo , Fetensa Getahun , Feyisa Bikila Regassa , Flaxman Seth , Forouhari Ali , Foschi Matteo , Fowobaje Kayode Raphael , Gandhi Aravind P. , Gebi Tilaye Gebru , Gebregergis Miglas W. , Gebrehiwot Mesfin , Gebremariam Brhane , Gebremeskel Gebreamlak Gebremedhn , Gela Yibeltal Yismaw , Gesese Molalegn Mesele , Ghasemi Falavarjani Khalil , Ghassemi Fariba , Ghozy Sherief , Golechha Mahaveer , Goleij Pouya , Gupta Sapna , Gupta Veer Bala , Gupta Vivek Kumar , Haile Teklehaimanot Gereziher , Hailu Semira Goitom , Haj-Mirzaian Arvin , Halimi Aram , Hallaj Shahin , Hammond Billy Randall , Hasan Ikramul , Hasani Hamidreza , Hassanian-Moghaddam Hossein , Heidari-Foroozan Mahsa , Hong Sung Hwi , Hoogar Praveen , Hosseinzadeh Mehdi , Hu Chengxi , Huynh Hong-Han , Immurana Mustapha , Iwu Chidozie C. D. , Jacob Louis , Jafarzadeh Abdollah , Jakovljevic Mihajlo , Jayaram Shubha , Jokar Mohammad , Joseph Nitin , Joshua Charity Ehimwenma , Kabito Gebisa Guyasa , Kalankesh Laleh R. , Kamath Sagarika , Kandel Himal , Karaye Ibraheem M. , Kasraei Hengameh , Kayode Gbenga A. , Kedir Shemsu , Khader Yousef Saleh , Khajuria Himanshu , Khatatbeh Moawiah Mohammad , Khatib Mahalaqua Nazli , Khorrami Zahra , Kim Yun Jin , Kisa Adnan , Kisa Sezer , Kosen Soewarta , Koyanagi Ai , Krishan Kewal , Lahariya Chandrakant , Laksono Tri , Lal Dharmesh Kumar , Lansingh Van Charles , Le Trang D. T. , Leasher Janet L. , Lee Munjae , Lee Seung Won , Lee Wei-Chen , Lim Stephen S. , Liu Xuefeng , Mahmoudi Alireza , Mahmoudi Razzagh , Malhotra Kashish , Mansouri Vahid , Marzo Roy Rillera , Maugeri Andrea , McAlinden Colm , Mekene Meto Tesfahun , Mersha Abera M. , Mestrovic Tomislav , Mihretie Ephrem Tesfaye , Mirzaei Mehdi , Mithra Prasanna , Mohamed Nouh Saad , Mohammadi Soheil , Mohammed Abdulwase , Mokdad Ali H. , Molavi Vardanjani Hossein , Moni Mohammad Ali , Montazeri Fateme , Moradi Maryam , Mousavi Parsa , Muhamed Ahmed Nuru , Mulita Admir , Naidoo Kovin S. , Naik Ganesh R. , Nargus Shumaila , Natto Zuhair S. , Nayak Biswa Prakash , Negaresh Mohammad , Negash Hadush , Nejadghaderi Seyed Aria , Nguyen Dang H. , Nguyen Hien Quang , Nguyen Phat Tuan , Nguyen Van Thanh , Niazi Robina Khan , Noreen Mamoona , Nzoputam Ogochukwu Janet , Odetokun Ismail A. , Olagunju Andrew T. , Olatubi Matthew Idowu , Onwujekwe Obinna E. , Ordak Michal , Osuagwu Uchechukwu Levi , Otstavnov Nikita , Owolabi Mayowa O. , Padubidri Jagadish Rao , Panahi Parsa , Pandey Ashok , Pardhan Shahina , Patel Jay , Patthipati Venkata Suresh , Pawar Shrikant , Perianayagam Arokiasamy , Petcu Ionela-Roxana , Pham Hoang Tran , Qattea Ibrahim , Raghav Pankaja Raghav , Rahim Fakher , Rahimi-Movaghar Vafa , Rahman Mohammad Hifz Ur , Rahman Mosiur , Ramasubramani Premkumar , Rashid Ahmed Mustafa , Rauf Annisa Utami , Redwan Elrashdy Moustafa Mohamed , Rezaei Nazila , Roy Priyanka , Saadatian Zahra , Sabour Siamak , Saddik Basema , Saeed Umar , Safi Sare , Safi Sher Zaman , Saghazadeh Amene , Saheb Sharif-Askari Fatemeh , Saheb Sharif-Askari Narjes , Sahebkar Amirhossein , Sakshaug Joseph W. , Salahi Saina , Salahi Sarvenaz , Saleh Mohamed A. , Samodra Yoseph Leonardo , Samuel Vijaya Paul , Samy Abdallah M. , Saravanan Aswini , Sawhney Monika , Saylan Mete , Sediqi Sayed Mansoor , Selvaraj Siddharthan , Sethi Yashendra , Seylani Allen , Shah Jaffer , Shahid Samiah , Shahwan Moyad Jamal , Shaikh Masood Ali , Shamim Muhammad Aaqib , Shayan Maryam , Shigematsu Mika , Shittu Aminu , Shorofi Seyed Afshin , Siddig Emmanuel Edwar , Silva Juan Carlos , Singh Jasvinder A. , Singh Paramdeep , Skiadaresi Eirini , Sousa Raúl A. R. C. , Sreeramareddy Chandrashekhar T. , Starodubov Vladimir I. , Taye Birhan Tsegaw , Ticoalu Jansje Henny Vera , Tsegay Guesh Mebrahtom , Tsilimbaris Miltiadis K. , Ullah Saif , Umair Muhammad , Valadan Tahbaz Sahel , Wickramasinghe Nuwan Darshana , Wondimagegn Guadie Sharew , Yang Lin , Yiğit Arzu , Yon Dong Keon , Yonemoto Naohiro , You Yuyi , Zastrozhin Mikhail Sergeevich , Zhao Hanqing , Zheng Peng , Ziafati Makan , Zielińska Magdalena , Steinmetz Jaimie D. , Bourne Rupert R. A. 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Background
We aimed to update estimates of global vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods
We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based surveys of eye diseases from January, 1980, to October, 2018. We fitted hierarchical models to estimate the prevalence of moderate and severe vision impairment (MSVI; presenting visual acuity from <6/18 to 3/60) and blindness ( < 3/60) caused by AMD, stratified by age, region, and year.

Results
In 2020, 1.85 million (95%UI: 1.35 to 2.43 million) people were estimated to be blind due to AMD, and another 6.23 million (95%UI: 5.04 to 7.58) with MSVI globally. High-income countries had the highest number of individuals with AMD-related blindness (0.60 million people; 0.46 to 0.77). The crude prevalence of AMD-related blindness in 2020 (among those aged ≥ 50 years) was 0.10% (0.07 to 0.12) globally, and the region with the highest prevalence of AMD-related blindness was North Africa/Middle East (0.22%; 0.16 to 0.30). Age-standardized prevalence (using the GBD 2019 data) of AMD-related MSVI in people aged ≥ 50 years in 2020 was 0.34% (0.27 to 0.41) globally, and the region with the highest prevalence of AMD-related MSVI was also North Africa/Middle East (0.55%; 0.44 to 0.68). From 2000 to 2020, the estimated crude prevalence of AMD-related blindness decreased globally by 19.29%, while the prevalence of MSVI increased by 10.08%.

Conclusions
The estimated increase in the number of individuals with AMD-related blindness and MSVI globally urges the creation of novel treatment modalities and the expansion of rehabilitation services.