Certification of visual impairment in Northern Ireland: 10 years of data

Background: Collection of certifications of visual impairment (CVI) data commenced in Northern Ireland in 2013. Since then, a report has been compiled year on year setting out causes of CVI, age, level of visual impairment and other factors. A new form was compiled in 2016 alongside a promotion of the benefits of certification of visual impairment.

Methods: Data were collected in spreadsheets annually by the CVI team and double entry checks were completed on 10% of the data for accuracy. SPSS was used to analyse all data over the 10-year period.

Results: The number of CVI has increased year on year with the exception of 2019-2020. There was a percentage increase of over 80% from 2013-2022 with the exception of 2019-2022 (due to COVID-19). From the first 9 months in 2023 figures are already set to increase from previous years. The most common cause of severe sight impairment (SSI) and Sight Impairment (SI) in adults was age-related macular degeneration (AMD) sitting around 50% every year. The second biggest causes of CVI were glaucoma and diabetic eye disease followed by hereditary retinal diseases. While adult certifications have increased year on year, children’s CVI have increased and decreased throughout the years. In children, the biggest cause of visual impairment remains as cerebral visual impairment (CVI) followed by Albinism, Optic Atrophy (OA) and hereditary retinal diseases.

Conclusions: The number of annual overall CVI has increased since 2013 in Northern Ireland except for 2019-2020. The leading cause of CVI in adults remains AMD followed by Glaucoma and Diabetic Eye Disease. CVI in children has not increased but the biggest cause of visual impairment in children remains cerebral visual impairment.