Roche flags APAC vision crisis as Korea sees rise in eye disease from aging, diabetes

Korea is facing a costly blind spot in public health: a rapidly aging, increasingly diabetic population that remains largely unscreened for preventable vision loss. 

As part of a new eight-country survey led by Roche and the Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society (APVRS), data show that while 91 percent of adults across the region say they’re concerned about their eyesight, just 28 percent get annual eye exams.

The APAC Vision Health Survey, commissioned by Roche and conducted by GWI between August and September 2024, polled 4,354 adults aged 40 and over across South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Asia-Pacific accounts for roughly two-thirds of the world’s 2.2 billion people with vision impairment, making the region a critical target for screening and access interventions.

Regionally, one in nine respondents said they had never had an eye exam. And while the survey didn’t include country-level breakdowns, Korea was raised during Monday’s discussion as a country where the gaps may be even wider.

During the APVRS-Roche webinar, Professor Yu Seung-young of ophthalmology at Kyung Hee University Medical Center cited data from Korea’s national health and nutrition survey conducted a decade ago, showing that 40 percent of diabetics were not getting annual eye exams, and 16 percent had never been screened.

“That’s worse than the APAC average,” Yu said. The figures, she added, reflect a larger failure to embed eye exams into routine chronic disease care.

Those concerns were echoed by the Korean Ophthalmological Society (KOS), which late last month backed a proposal for age-specific screening mandates, including early checks for myopia in children and fundus exams, or retinal scans used to detect macular degeneration, for seniors.

“It tells us we’re missing the mark on prevention,” Yu said.

The cost of inaction is already showing. According to new data from the KOS and the Korean Retina Society, the number of patients treated for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the country’s top cause of blindness, more than doubled from 200,000 in 2019 to 510,000 in 2024.

Including diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, Korea saw a 33 percent surge in patients across the three leading blinding diseases, totaling 2.1 million by 2023. Over 80 percent were over 50. 

The price tag is steep. The Korean Medical Association’s Disability Evaluation Standards estimated that bilateral blindness slashes labor capacity by up to 96 percent, exceeding the toll of double arm amputation. AMD alone carries an annual economic burden of 694.3 billion won ($504.1 million), including medical costs, caregiving, and lost productivity.

“Even though some patients have already been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, they confessed to the fact that they had no idea what the condition was and what they were actually being treated for,” said Mårten Brelén, professor of ophthalmology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Many had already begun receiving injections but still didn’t understand what the treatment was meant to achieve, he added, describing the results of a micro-survey conducted as part of a patient-led outreach campaign in Hong Kong. “A lack of awareness was really apparent.”

In Korea, Yu noted that infrastructure for early detection already exists, at least in pilot form. A decade ago, ophthalmologists deployed mobile screening units with fundus cameras and OCT, or optical coherence tomography, devices, uploading images to the cloud for analysis. She said the model “could work across APAC” if adapted to local needs and scaled properly.

The survey’s broader findings reveal the behavioral roots of the crisis. Among APAC respondents, 37 percent cited cost as the top barrier to exams, followed by lack of awareness (20 percent), limited access (16 percent), and fear or time constraints.

Ahmed Elhusseiny, Roche’s head of the APAC area, said the survey revealed a critical gap between concern and action, noting that while concern levels across APEC were high, “there’s a distinction between being concerned about something and then knowing what you can do about it.” 

In Thailand, Professor Paisan Ruamviboonsuk of ophthalmology at Rangsit University emphasized the economic case for early intervention, pointing to data on diabetic retinopathy. If 6,000 patients with vision-threatening disease are identified and even half of them -- around 3,000 -- go on to receive treatment, “that means 2,700 patients are going to be saved from vision loss,” he said.

With the annual care cost for a blind patient estimated at $600, the savings quickly add up. “We can address this kind of number to the policymakers to have them aware that they're going to save a lot of money for preventing blindness.”

Now, the APVRS is pushing for a coordinated regional strategy that combines integration of eye exams into national health systems, expansion of AI-assisted diagnostics, and public-private partnerships to scale access via mobile and cloud-based platforms.

In Korea, that message appears to be gaining ground. In May, the KOS and Korean Retina Society unveiled their “National Eye Reassurance Project” to presidential candidates. The plan would mandate fundus screenings for adults 60 and older, along with high-risk groups such as smokers and diabetics.