Five-Year Incidence of Bilateral Cause-Specific Visual Impairment in the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project

Abstract

PURPOSE. To describe the age-, gender-, and cause-specific 5-year incidence of bilateral visual impairment in participants in the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project, Victoria, Australia. METHODS. Participants aged 40 years and older were recruited from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, by random cluster sampling. The mean age of the 3271 (83% of the eligible) participants was 59 ± 12 (SD) years. Of the participants, 54% were female. The initial baseline study (1992-1994) was followed by a 5-year incidence study (1997-1999). At both time points of the study, participants underwent a standardized testing procedure. Distance and near vision was tested using logarithm of the minimum angle of reso..