Vision Surveillance in the US

Vision loss is a serious public health problem in the United States and will get worse in the next 30 years because of the aging population, increase in chronic diseases affecting the eye and vision, and changing demographics of the U.S. population. There are significant variations among demographic groups in vision outcomes. Therefore, the vision and eye care communities have identified the need to reduce population disparities to prevent visual loss and provide access to eye care services as top public health priorities in Healthy People 2020 (HP2020).

CDC convened an expert panel, 14 national and international experts, to identify action steps and priorities to strengthen national and state surveillance systems to help assess and monitor disparities in eye health, vision loss, and access to eye care over time and respond to national, state, and local needs. The product of the meeting is eight papers that are published in a supplement at the American Journal of Ophthalmology December 2012, volume 154 (supplement).

• Vision Surveillance in the United States: Has the Time Come? [PDF–56K]
  
• Surveillance of Disparities in Vision and Eye Health in the United States: An Expert Panel’s Opinions [PDF–159K]
• Building a Basis for Action: Enhancing Public Health Surveillance of Vision Impairment and Eye Health in the United States. [PDF–171K]
• Disparities in Adult Vision Health in the United States [PDF–271K]
• The Variability of Vision Loss Assessment in Federally Sponsored Surveys: Seeking Conceptual Clarity and Comparability [PDF–670K]
• Disparities in Eye Care Utilization Among the United States Adults with Visual Impairment: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2006-2009 [PDF–371K]
• Vision Health Disparities in the United States by Race/Ethnicity, Education, and Economic Status: Finding From Two Nationally Representative Surveys [PDF–309K]
• Use of Electronic Health Records and Administrative Data for Public Health Surveillance of Eye Health and Vision-Related Conditions in the United States [PDF–241K]

The panel members agreed on how a surveillance system would work and what the minimal content of such a system might entail. A vision surveillance system needs to—

1. Link data collection and analyses with ongoing public health interventions to improve eye health disparities.
   
2. Effectively assess vision loss.
   
3. Effectively assess eye care use.
   
4. Include defined populations to assess the disparities in vision loss and in using eye care services.
   
5. Include and sustain ophthalmic and vision measurement and question components within national surveys.
   
6. Be forged among federal agencies and other stakeholders to monitor the nation’s eye health and eye care use for trends in disparity.