Abstract
Congenital cataract (CC) is the primary cause of treatable childhood blindness worldwide. The establishment of reliable, epidemiological estimates is an essential first step towards management strategies. We undertook an initial systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence and other epidemiological characteristics of CC. PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched before January 2015. A meta-analysis with random-effects model based on a proportions approach was performed to determine the population-based prevalence of CC and to describe the data regarding the laterality, morphology, associated comorbidities and etiology. Heterogeneity was analyzed using the meta-regression method, and subgroup analyses were performed. 27 studies were selected from 2,610 references. The pooled prevalence estimate was 4.24 per 10,000 people, making it a rare disease based on WHO standards. Subgroup analyses revealed the highest CC prevalence in Asia, and an increasing prevalence trend through 2000. Other epidemiological characteristics showed CC tended to be bilateral, isolated, hereditary and in total/nuclear morphology. Huge heterogeneity was identified across most estimates (I2 > 75%). Most of the variations could be explained by sample size, research period and age at diagnosis. The findings provide suggestions for etiology of CC, improvements in screening techniques and development of public health strategies.
Highlights
ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to provide a methodologically reliable, global and current pooled prevalence of CC and to collect other major epidemiological data to shed light on the etiology of this condition and to promote the development of screening and public health management strategies related to CC
After duplicates and nonrelevant studies were removed, the abstracts of the remaining studies were reviewed, and 42 articles with potentially relevant studies were further identified in full text
The extracted age at diagnosis ranged from birth to 18 years of age
Summary
The purpose of this study was to provide a methodologically reliable, global and current pooled prevalence of CC and to collect other major epidemiological data to shed light on the etiology of this condition and to promote the development of screening and public health management strategies related to CC
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