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Childhood blindness from cataract costly for society, but preventable
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The rate of childhood blindness caused by cataract varies regionally from 10% to 30%, with the global average about 14%, according to an editorial in Community Eye Health.
The economic loss over 10 years from childhood cataract is estimated to be $1 to $6 billion, the report said, but the cost of treating the 40,000 children blinded by cataract in India would be closer to $4 to $8 million.
B.R. Shamanna, MD, MSc, and R. Muralikrishnan, MHM, MSc, note in their editorial that detection is of key importance to early intervention and treatment.
Pediatric cataract surgery is more difficult than cataract surgery in adults and requires longer follow-up, the editorial said, and physicians must consider timing of surgery, type of surgery, the abilities of surgeons themselves and the physical location of surgery. Good visual outcomes will depend on doing surgery as early as possible before the cataract becomes visually disabling.
The authors said that more publicity regarding the condition is needed and that surgery should be carried out in specialist centers.
The editorial is published in the October issue of Community Eye Health.