This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (211)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Cataracts/ Lens  • Aging/ Geriatrics  • Alert me on articles by topic

The Rotterdam Study

Caroline C. W. Klaver, MD; Roger C. W. Wolfs, MD; Johannes R. Vingerling, MD, PhD; Albert Hofman, MD, PhD; Paulus T. V. M. de Jong, MD, PhD, FRCOphth

Arch Ophthalmol. 1998;116:653-658.

Objective  To study the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment in various age categories of a large population-based study.

Methods  For the study, 6775 subjects aged 55 years or older underwent an extensive ophthalmologic screening examination, including measurements of visual acuity and the visual field and fundus photography. The causes of blindness or visual impairment were determined using all screening information and medical records.

Results  The prevalence of blindness, according to World Health Organization criteria, ranged from 0.1% in subjects aged 55 to 64 years to 3.9% in subjects aged 85 years or older; the prevalence of visual impairment ranged from 0.1% to 11.8%. For persons younger than 75 years, myopic degeneration and optic neuropathy were the most important causes of impaired vision. For persons aged 75 years or older, age-related macular degeneration was the major cause of the increased prevalence of blindness, whereas age-related cataract predominantly caused the increased prevalence of visual impairment.

Conclusions  The hierarchy of causes of blindness and visual impairment is highly determined by age. As yet, little can be done to reduce the exponential increase of blindness; however, adequate implementation of surgery to treat cataract could reduce visual impairment by one third. Underuse of ophthalmologic care is a prominent cause of the high frequency of untreated cataracts among the elderly.

From the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Drs Klaver, Wolfs, Vingerling, Hofman, and de Jong) and Ophthalmology (Drs Klaver, Wolfs, and Vingerling), Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute, and the Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam (Dr de Jong).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

High-Resolution Spectral Domain-OCT Imaging in Geographic Atrophy Associated with Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Fleckenstein et al.
IOVS 2008;49:4137-4144.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genotype-Phenotype Correlations for Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration Associated with Homozygous HTRA1 and CFH Genotypes
Leveziel et al.
IOVS 2008;49:3090-3094.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Unmet needs for cataract surgery in Spain according to indication criteria. Evaluation through a simulation model
Comas et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2008;92:888-892.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Aging Macula Disorder in a General Population: The Rotterdam Study
Boekhoorn et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2008;126:834-839.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) therapy versus photodynamic therapy plus intravitreal triamcinolone for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: 6-month results of a prospective, randomised, controlled clinical study
Weigert et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2008;92:356-360.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Protective Effect of Functional Connexin43 Channels on a Human Epithelial Cell Line Exposed to Oxidative Stress
Hutnik et al.
IOVS 2008;49:800-806.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Profiling of WDR36 Missense Variants in German Patients with Glaucoma
Pasutto et al.
IOVS 2008;49:270-274.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Risk of bilateral visual impairment in individuals with amblyopia: the Rotterdam study
van Leeuwen et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2007;91:1450-1451.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genetic susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration: a paradigm for dissecting complex disease traits
Swaroop et al.
Hum Mol Genet 2007;16:R174-R182.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

C-reactive Protein Level and Risk of Aging Macula Disorder: The Rotterdam Study
Boekhoorn et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2007;125:1396-1401.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups and Age-Related Maculopathy
Jones et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2007;125:1235-1240.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Retinal Protein Modification by 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal
Ethen et al.
IOVS 2007;48:3469-3479.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Assessment of the contribution of CFH and chromosome 10q26 AMD susceptibility loci in a Russian population isolate
Fisher et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2007;91:576-578.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and causes of visual impairment and blindness in Sistan-va-Baluchestan Province, Iran: Zahedan Eye Study
Shahriari et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2007;91:579-584.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Estrogen Receptor {alpha} Gene Polymorphisms Associated with Incident Aging Macula Disorder
Boekhoorn et al.
IOVS 2007;48:1012-1017.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Relationships between Macular Pigment Optical Density and Its Constituent Carotenoids in Diet and Serum
Nolan et al.
IOVS 2007;48:571-582.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Autofluorescence Characteristics of Early, Atrophic, and High-Risk Fellow Eyes in Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Smith et al.
IOVS 2006;47:5495-5504.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Analysis of the Y402H Variant of the Complement Factor H Gene in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
Baird et al.
IOVS 2006;47:4194-4198.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Associated factors for age related maculopathy in the adult population in China: the Beijing eye study
Xu et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2006;90:1087-1090.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Predictive value of fundus autofluorescence for development of geographic atrophy in age-related macular degeneration.
Hwang et al.
IOVS 2006;47:2655-2661.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and causes of blindness in the rural population of the Chennai Glaucoma Study.
Vijaya et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2006;90:407-410.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography in non-exudative age related macular degeneration
Pieroni et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2006;90:191-197.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking and age related macular degeneration: the number of pack years of cigarette smoking is a major determinant of risk for both geographic atrophy and choroidal neovascularisation
Khan et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2006;90:75-80.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Hypothetical LOC387715 is a second major susceptibility gene for age-related macular degeneration, contributing independently of complement factor H to disease risk
Rivera et al.
Hum Mol Genet 2005;14:3227-3236.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Extraocular Muscle Insertions Relative to the Fovea and Optic Nerve: Humans and Rhesus Macaque
Feng et al.
IOVS 2005;46:3493-3496.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and Burden of Self-reported Blindness, Low Vision, and Visual Impairment in the French Community: A Nationwide Survey
Brezin et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2005;123:1117-1124.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Declines in Arrestin and Rhodopsin in the Macula with Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Ethen et al.
IOVS 2005;46:769-775.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A method of drusen measurement based on reconstruction of fundus background reflectance
Smith et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2005;89:87-91.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Minnesota Grading System of Eye Bank Eyes for Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Olsen and Feng
IOVS 2004;45:4484-4490.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Need for Routine Eye Examinations
Taylor et al.
IOVS 2004;45:2539-2542.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Missense Variations in the Fibulin 5 Gene and Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Stone et al.
NEJM 2004;351:346-353.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The prevalence and causes of visual impairment in Tehran: the Tehran Eye Study
Fotouhi et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2004;88:740-745.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Causes and Prevalence of Visual Impairment Among Adults in the United States
The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group
Arch Ophthalmol 2004;122:477-485.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among Adults in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia
The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group
Arch Ophthalmol 2004;122:495-505.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the United States
The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group
Arch Ophthalmol 2004;122:564-572.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Causes of visual impairment in people aged 75 years and older in Britain: an add-on study to the MRC Trial of Assessment and Management of Older People in the Community
Evans et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2004;88:365-370.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Five-Year Incidence of Bilateral Cause-Specific Visual Impairment in the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project
Dimitrov et al.
IOVS 2003;44:5075-5081.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Strong and Highly Significant QTL on Chromosome 6 that Protects the Mouse from Age-Related Retinal Degeneration
Danciger et al.
IOVS 2003;44:2442-2449.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Eyes With Macular Drusen or Hyperpigmentation: The Blue Mountains Eye Study Cohort
Wang et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2003;121:658-663.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Incidence of Blindness in Southern Germany Due to Glaucoma and Degenerative Conditions
Trautner et al.
IOVS 2003;44:1031-1034.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Visual impairment and blindness in Europe and their prevention
Kocur and Resnikoff
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2002;86:716-722.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence of visual impairment in people aged 75 years and older in Britain: results from the MRC trial of assessment and management of older people in the community
Evans et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2002;86:795-800.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Macular Pigment and Melanin in Age-Related Maculopathy in a General Population
Berendschot et al.
IOVS 2002;43:1928-1932.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Causes of Incident Visual Impairment: The Blue Mountains Eye Study
Foran et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2002;120:613-619.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and Causes of Visual Field Loss in the Elderly and Associations With Impairment in Daily Functioning: The Rotterdam Study
Ramrattan et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2001;119:1788-1794.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Clinical Trial of High-Dose Supplementation With Vitamins C and E, Beta Carotene, and Zinc for Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Vision Loss: AREDS Report No. 8
Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group
Arch Ophthalmol 2001;119:1417-1436.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Incidence and Progression Rates of Age-Related Maculopathy: The Rotterdam Study
Klaver et al.
IOVS 2001;42:2237-2241.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Is Open-Angle Glaucoma Associated with Early Menopause? : The Rotterdam Study
Hulsman et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:138-144.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The APO*E3-Leiden mouse as an animal model for basal laminar deposit
Kliffen et al.
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2000;84:1415-1419.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Changing Views on Open-Angle Glaucoma: Definitions and Prevalences--The Rotterdam Study
Wolfs et al.
IOVS 2000;41:3309-3321.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Severe Visual Impairment in Older Women
Moore et al.
West J Nurs Res 2000;22:571-595.
ABSTRACT  

Causes of Blindness and Visual Impairment in a Population of Older Americans: The Salisbury Eye Evaluation Study
Munoz et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2000;118:819-825.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Age-Specific Causes of Bilateral Visual Impairment
Weih et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2000;118:264-269.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genetic Risk of Primary Open-angle Glaucoma: Population-Based Familial Aggregation Study
Wolfs et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 1998;116:1640-1645.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genetic Risk of Age-related Maculopathy: Population-Based Familial Aggregation Study
Klaver et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 1998;116:1646-1651.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT