Exhaustive study is first in the world to look at eye disease in urban Indians

One in 20 Singaporean Indians has a severe form of a diabetes-related eye disease which could leave them blind.  Another one in 10 already suffers from some sort of visual impairment caused by diabetic retinopathy, according to the recently published Singapore Indian Eye Study.  It helped to shed light on the prevalence of diabetes in this ethnic group.  Everyone taking part had to have a blood test.

Researchers from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (Seri) found that a third of these Indian patients had diabetes, of whom half were previously unaware they had the disease.  And half of those aged 60 and above suffered from the disease, which causes abnormal blood sugar levels.  The study, which involved 3,400 Indians aged 40 and over, spanned two years and was published online this month. 

Seri director Wong Tien Yin said this is the first comprehensive study in the world to look at the frequency of eye problems in an urban Indian population.  The findings could apply to the tens of millions of Indians living in cities worldwide.

The study forms part of the institute’s aim of profiling the eye diseases of the three major ethnic groups in Singapore.  The Singapore Malay Eye Study was released in 2008 and the Chinese study is under way.

The researchers had expected diabetes to feature prominently, but the findings still took them by surprise.  The prevalence of diabetes turned out to be much higher than in 2008’s study on Malays, when about 18 per cent were found to have the disease.

Professor Wong said : “The high prevalence of diabetes means that over time, visual impairment due to diabetes is going to be a big problem for Singapore.” That is why one of the study’s conclusions is that there will be a rise in diabetes-related blindness among the Indians here.

But the prevalence of visual impairment among all Indian participants, not just those with diabetes, was 3.4 per cent, similar to that found in previous studies on Singaporean Malays and Chinese.  This could be a result of the similar environment, as well as equal access to health care, the researchers suggested.

The study also found that cataracts are the leading cause of blindness and visual disability for Indians.  The disease accounted for 60 per cent of those blind in both eyes, and 65.7 per cent of those with visual impairment.

This is in line with other Asian countries such as India.  However, there have been studies on the Singaporean Chinese which identified glaucoma as the leading cause of blindness.

The other major causes of visual impairment and blindness for Singaporean Indians are diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.  Those suffering from visual impairment in both eyes were more likely to be female, smokers, and from a poorer socio-economic background.

The release of the landmark study comes as Seri, which is part of the Singapore National Eye Centre, holds its first find-raising event.

Yesterday, the institute launched its Eyes That Tell Stories exhibition at Red Dot Design Museum.  The exhibition features 20 eye images of well-known personalities including former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The money will go towards research that focuses on eye diseases affecting an ageing population.  Prof Wong said : “People are living longer, and they wish to remain active even in old age – which requires good eyesight.”

The Singapore Eye Research Institute yesterday
launched its Eye That Tell Stories exhibition
of close-ups of well-known eyes