Eye Health – Study seeks to understand the prevalence of sight and hearing loss in the UK

The College of Optometrists’ Mike Bowen spoke at the Hospital and Specialty Optometrists Conference. Mike was talking about the UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study.

The UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study (UKNEHS) was developed in order to gather population-level data on the prevalence and causes of sight and hearing loss in the UK. It enters its pilot phase this month.

Speaking at the Hospital and Specialty Optometrists Conference (HSOC) at the University of Warwickshire earlier this month (4–5 November), Mike Bowen, director of knowledge and research at the College of Optometrists, updated delegates on the study to date.

The pilot of the study will start imminently, Bowen shared. With the first ethical approval for the care home phase looking at 250 people in this setting due to start late November. Then to continue through to January. In spring 2024, the community section of the pilot will begin.

Through the study, researchers are aiming to collect vision and hearing loss data from 25,000 people across the UK.

Bowen explained: “We will select a random sample of people to participate – the statisticians who are working with us have calculated the number that we need to get a reliable estimate of the prevenance of blindness for the UK population, and that number is 25,000.”

Participants sought for the study will be over the age of 50.

Commenting on the age range of the study, Bowen told OT: “The prevalence of the major eye diseases goes up dramatically over the age of 50… To get a statistically reliable sample for say, everyone over 18, we would have to get data from a couple of million people and that seemed too big of an ask as funding would have been quite extraordinary.”

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