Self-reported Vision and Hearing Impairment in Europe: The EUROVISION project

• To be published in Acta Ophthalmologica on World Sight Day, 8 October 2020
• To be presented at 16th World Congress on Public Health 2020

Professor Rupert Bourne was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship grant from the European Commission in 2018, with which to support Professor Nicolas Leveziel (University of Poitiers) in a collaborative project entitled “EUROVISION: Self-reported vision status and associated risk factors in Europe: prevalence and temporal change”. This project involved the analysis of data from more than 300,000 participants of the European Health Interview Survey. Workingwith colleagues in Eurostat, and other VLEG members the project team calculated prevalence rates of self-reported vision impairment and hearing impairment among this population-based sample of 28 European Union countries, and Iceland and Norway. The unique richness of the survey dataset also allowed the team to investigate factors relating to physical and mental health, lifestyle and socioeconomic status that were associated with vision and hearing impairment but also dual sensory impairment. This study offers valuable insights into the status of sensory impairment in the European population and heterogeneity within and between countries. The project team have been closely supported by the European Coalition on Vision.