ArticleBMJ open2012
Geographical variation in certification rates of blindness and sight impairment in England, 2008-2009.
Article in BMJ open, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring variations in Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI) with geographical locations, deprivation indices, density of optometry practices and number of older people living in Mid and South Essex: an analysis of publicly available data.Eye (London, England) · 2026Article
- Global certification of visual impairment registries: A scoping review.Acta ophthalmologica · 2025Article
- Article
- The unmet need for certification of vision impairment for people accessing a national primary care-based low vision rehabilitation service.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2025Observational
- Sight impairment registration in Trinidad: trend in causes and population coverage in comparison to the National Eye Survey of Trinidad and Tobago.Eye (London, England) · 2024Article
- Incidence, individual, and macro level risk factors of severe binocular visual impairment and blindness in persons aged 50 and older.PloS one · 2021Observational
- Geographical inequalities in uptake of NHS funded eye examinations: Poisson modelling of small-area data for Essex, UK.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2018Article
- Leading causes of certifiable visual loss in England and Wales during the year ending 31 March 2013.Eye (London, England) · 2016Article
- Article
- Prevalence and incidence of blindness and other degrees of sight impairment in patients treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in a well-defined region of the United Kingdom.Eye (London, England) · 2015Article
- Area deprivation and age related macular degeneration in the EPIC-Norfolk Eye Study.Public health · 2015Article
- Composite Measures of Individual and Area-Level Socio-Economic Status Are Associated with Visual Impairment in Singapore.PloS one · 2015Article
- Article
- Area deprivation, individual socioeconomic status and low vision in the EPIC-Norfolk Eye Study.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2014Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo examine and interpret the variation in the incidence of blindness and sight impairment in England by PCT, as reported by the Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI).
designAnalysis of national certification data.
settingAll Primary Care Trusts, England.
participants23 773 CVI certifications issued from 2008 to 2009.
main outcome measuresCrude and Age standardised rates of CVI data for blindness and sight loss by PCT.
methodsThe crude and age standardised CVI rates per 100 000 were calculated with Spearman's rank correlation used to assess whether there was any evidence of association between CVI rates with Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and the Programme Spend for Vision.
resultsThere was high-level variation, almost 11-fold (coefficient of variation 38%) in standardised CVI blindness and sight impairment annual certification rates across PCTs. The mean rate was 43.7 and the SD 16.7. We found little evidence of an association between the rate of blindness and sight impairment with either the IMD or Programme Spend on Vision.
conclusionsThe wide geographical variation we found raises questions about the quality of the data and whether there is genuine unmet need for prevention of sight loss. It is a concern for public health practitioners who will be interpreting these data locally and nationally as the CVI data will form the basis of the public health indicator 'preventable sight loss'. Poor-quality data and inadequate interpretation will only create confusion if not addressed adequately from the outset. There is an urgent need to address the shortcomings of the current data collection system and to educate all public health practitioners.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.