The European Forum Against Blindness (EFAB) has revealed the results of an 11-country study (an extension to the data reported last year covering six countries) which reports on the economic impact of blindness and four leading eyesight conditions, and which concluded that blindness and vision loss lead to a reduced quality of life and increased economic burden to society.

"The key consideration and the direct call to action from this report is that investing in earlier and more targeted interventions - for example, screening for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma followed by treatment, anti-VEGF treatment as standard of care for wet AMD - would lead to a healthier population and help alleviate the cost of blindness," said Professor Ian Banks, Chairman of European Men's Health Forum (EMHF) and EFAB.

The topline results from the study, conducted by the independent health economics group, Deloitte Access Economics, can be accessed via the interactive analytical tool for blindness and vision impairment, which is available on http://www.efabeu.org/analytics

The study, covering Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, reports that in these 11 countries:

Blindness and the four eye diseases lead to a significant reduction in wellbeing; equivalent to 123 million workdays lost per year. Blindness and the eye diseases are estimated to result in annual economic costs of approximately 8 and 24 billion Euro respectively, across the countries studied.

The study concludes that each cost-effective intervention can off-set economic costs in the range of 2 to 3 billion Euros. These interventions include anti-VEGF treatment as standard of care for wet AMD, appropriate early detection, prevention and treatment options such as screening for cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma followed by treatment.

"In the EU-11 the four eye diseases affect approximately 1 in 10 people, and these conditions don't only impact those directly affected, but their carers, family members and friends," said Professor Banks. "Then there is the considerable economic burden of blindness and vision loss to society to consider. For blindness, over 50% of this cost is from informal care."

EFAB and its partners, the European Coalition for Vision and Second Sight Medical Products, hosted an event at the European Parliament, in Brussels, to share the results of this survey with MEPs and leading professionals across the field of vision health, in order to draw attention to the importance of vision health and educate about eye diseases.

A key part of their mission is to raise awareness for the fact that 50% of European blindness is preventable, and that new technologies, such as bionic eyes, can help in diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, which are yet neither preventable nor treatable.

The economic cost and burden of eye disease and preventable blindness study

EFAB worked with Deloitte Access Economics to analyze the economic impact and burden of four eye diseases and blindness in 11 European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) and the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent these eye diseases. A targeted literature search for each country to identify studies reporting the prevalence of each eye disease and blindness was conducted. The burden of disease analysis included both "direct costs", which are all healthcare costs as a result of treatment (including costs of hospitalization, general practice services, and medications), and "indirect costs" which are all costs related to loss of productivity and informal care costs. For the cost-effectiveness analysis the WHO "Choosing Interventions that are Cost-Effective" (CHOICE) methods were used to establish whether interventions are worth their investment.