Health
Correlation between aging population and increases in blindness
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 26, 2004
The number of blind people in the United States will increase by 70% to 1.6 million by 2020, with a similar increase for people with low vision, according to an article in the April Archives of Ophthalmology.
The increases will be due largely to aging of the population, said the authors. They also found differing causes for blindness depending on race. The leading cause of blindness for whites is age-related macular degeneration, while cataracts and glaucoma cause more blindness among blacks. Among Hispanics, the leading cause of blindness was glaucoma.
The researchers, from Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute and the Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group, estimated the prevalences of various causes of blindness and low vision in the United States by age, race/ethnicity and gender and estimated the change in these prevalence figures over the next 20 years. Estimates were based on recent population-based studies in the United States, Australia and Europe and on 2000 U.S. Census data and projected U.S. population figures for 2020.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/04/26/hlbf0426.htm.
