Burden of vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy in China from 1990 to 2017: findings from the global burden of disease study

Abstract Purpose To conduct a detailed analysis on the burden of vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy (DR) by year, age and gender in China from 1990 to 2017. Methods This is a between‐country, retrospective, comparative burden‐of‐disease study. Prevalence and Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) data caused by DR in China and relative territories were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2017 to observe the changing trends of vision loss. Results Prevalence and YLDs of DR in China increased significantly from 1990 to 2017. The age‐standardized prevalence and YLDs rate witnessed a slowly declining trend recently. Higher prevalence and YLDs were observed in female subjects in the past three decades. Middle‐aged and elderly people suffered from a higher burden of DR‐induced vision loss. The total age‐standardized prevalence rate of China in 1990 (17.68) and 2017 (21.88) was lower than that of other seven neighbouring countries. In 2017, moderate vision loss (MVL) (17.19) accounted for the largest proportion in China. The all‐age YLDs of DR showed the second‐highest increase (150.26%) while the age‐standardized YLDs rate showed the third‐highest increase (14.91%) among fifteen common causes of vision impairment (VI) from 1990 to 2017. China ranked 3rd among G20 countries in terms of all‐age YLDs while ranked 18th in age‐standardized YLDs rate in 2017. Conclusions In the past three decades, the prevalence and YLDs due to DR in China have improved in both genders. This study highlights the importance of prevention for DR, especially for women and the elderly.