Cataract Surgical Coverage and Visual Acuity Outcomes in Rural China in 2014 and Comparisons With the 2006 China Nine-Province Survey

Purpose To estimate surgical coverage of cataract-related vision impairment and blindness and visual acuity outcomes in operated eyes in rural China in 2014 with comparisons with the 2006 Nine-Province Survey. Design Population-based, cross-sectional study. Methods Geographical cluster sampling was used in randomly selecting residents from a rural county or semi-rural district within 9 provinces: Beijing, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hebei, Ningxia, Chongqing, and Yunnan. Persons 50 years of age or older were enumerated through household visits and invited to examination sites for visual acuity testing and ocular examination. Surgical coverage and visual acuity outcomes in 2014 were compared with data from the 2006 survey. Results Among 51 310 examined persons, surgical coverage among those presenting with cataract-related severe visual impairment or blindness ( Conclusions Cataract blindness control is well underway in rural China, as evidenced by significant increases in cataract surgical coverage and improvement in visual acuity outcomes during the 2006–2014 interval. Further efforts are needed to provide greater access to affordable cataract surgery for the elderly, female persons, and those with little or no education.