Robust data on the sensory health of the nation could be collected for the first time thanks to a study that began in October.
The UK does not have an accurate set of data on vision and hearing loss, resulting in a lack of evidence to inform health policies. The country is falling behind nations such as Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, the USA, Nepal and Bangladesh that all have national sensory loss studies.
The UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study (UKNEHS) is a collaboration between sensory loss charities, Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), leading eye and hearing care professionals and the public sector to record accurate data on vision and hearing health. The aim is to ensure when the NHS and policymakers make vital decisions that affect people’s health they are based on evidence.
This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and charities including the RNIB and RNID. Health professionals are visiting households in randomly-selected postcodes in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough until February 2025.
They will invite people aged 50 years and older for a free specialist eye and hearing assessment. Estimates suggest that one in every five people aged 50 plus have undetected impaired eyesight or eye disease.
The researchers hope that this initial work will lead to further funding for a UK-wide study that will give an accurate picture of the nation’s sensory health.
Rupert Bourne, professor of ophthalmology at Anglia Ruskin University and UKNEHS chief investigator, said: “Hearing impairment costs the UK an estimated £30 billion each year and visual impairment, including sight loss and blindness, £28 billion.
“Despite these huge costs, the datasets currently used in the UK are of limited value, due to a reliance on international data, or UK data samples that are either very small scale, or not generalisable to the population as a whole.
“There is subsequently no robust evidence-base upon which to design a prevention strategy or plan services for the future that meet the population’s needs.”
The study aims to enable healthcare professionals and policy makers to understand why people are losing their sight and hearing to preventable causes.