538 million people with vision impairment from uncorrected myopia cost the global economy US$244 billion in lost productivity in 2015, according to a study co-authored by the Brien Holden Vision Institute.
The East Asia region, which includes China, bore the greatest burden of productivity loss of around US$150 billion, the study, published in Ophthalmology, reported. South Asia and South East Asia also experienced significant productivity loss of more than US$30 billion, equating to over 1% of regional GDP.
A one-off investment of US$20 billion would establish the services necessary to provide vision correction to all who needed it, potentially leading to a significant annual saving in productivity, said BHVI researcher Tim Fricke. “On current trends we expect there will be 2.6 billion people with myopia globally in 2020. While the majority will have access to corrective lenses such as spectacles and contact lenses, current service capacity will leave well over half a billion people unable to access an eye examination and appropriate correction. This includes around 54 million people classified as having mild vision impairment, who, although not formally recognised as being vision impaired, still experience a relatively small loss of utility, which is accounted for in this study.”
The impact of vision impairment on lives could be substantial, he added, including affecting employment, education and social interaction. “For a single health condition to result in a loss of over 1% of GDP is enormously important. The findings also serve to highlight the potential value in funding the interventions needed to eliminate this unnecessary impairment.”
A combination of factors explained the substantial burden in East Asia, said BHVI’s myopia head, Professor Padmaja Sankaridurg. “The high-density urban living with a focus on near-based activities has resulted in high prevalence and also in a large number of people with inadequate visual correction.” The researchers concluded people with myopia were also less likely to have adequate optical correction if they are older and live in a rural area of a less developed country.
