Description

From United Kingdom Wiki

This was a research review of visual impairment in ethnic minorities in the UK to make recommendations for future research strategies. In the UK the age profiles of ethnic minorities are relatively young, so there are fewer older people and consequently less age-related blindness. In Britain research shows that there are reported rates of sight problems for 61% of African-Caribbean and 53% Asian populations compared with an older 52% white population. Higher rates for diabetes among Asian origin populations may be expected to be associated with higher rates of diabetic retinopathy. There is increased prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes in people with South Asian(3-fold)and Afro-Caribbean(10-fold)origin in Britain compared with indigenous British people. Diabetes affects vision by altering the properties of blood vessels in the eye so that they can expand locally in size, leak blood, reduce blood supply to the retina or even for blood vessels to burst in the eye. Retinopathy can occur in insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetics. The greatest cause of blindness in the world is the development of cataracts. There is a greater prevalence to cataracts with age, which is higher in the Indian-subcontinent that in Europe. Within the Asian community in the UK there is a much higher incidence of age-related cataracts when compared to the white British population. Early poverty or malnourishment may be a predisposing factor for the early onset of cataracts. This may be true for early generations of migrants but is unlikely to be of major significance to UK-born minorities. Glaucoma is responsible for 13% of blindness in the UK and are a range of disorders caused by raised intraocular pressure which can produce visual field loss and if untreated, blindness. There are raised levels of glaucoma in people of African-Caribbean origin. Multiple sclerosis, which can cause vision loss is more prevalent in white people from Northern and Central Europe compared to Black and White people from Africa. Migration studies of ethnic groups from high risk to low risk areas have shown that immigrants have a prevalence rate intermediate between the country of origin and the host country.