Shen H, Zhang H, Gong W, et al. - Researchers sought to determine the current prevalence, causes, as well as factors related to visual impairment in a Chinese elderly population. They identified a random sample of 2164 candidates aged ≥ 70 years and of these, 1914 (response rate: 88.4%) had comprehensive eye tests. The standardized prevalence of mild visual impairment (< 6/12 to ≥ 6/18), moderate to severe visual impairment (MSVI) (< 6/18 to ≥ 3/60), and blindness (< 3/60) in the better eye were found to be 20.5%, 25.8%, and 3.4%, respectively. Cataract (49.7%) was documented as the main reason for visual impairment. The third most frequent reason for monocular mild visual impairment (2.2%) and MSVI (4.4%) in the elderly population was vitreoretinal interface abnormalities, according to optical coherence tomography. Factors related to visual impairment included advanced age, female gender, self-reported visual impairment, cognitive impairment, and high educational level. Overall, it was evident that the Chinese elderly population commonly experienced visual impairment and it represents a severe health and social issue. These data call for urgent practicable policies to popularize eye health knowledge as well as to encourage treatments for visual impairment in elderly persons in rural China.