Eyesight Projections for Boomers Dim [View All]

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http://my.webmd.com/content/article/85/98598.htm?lastselectedguid=%7B5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348%7D

Eyesight Projections for Boomers Dim

Million More Americans Will Suffer From Age-Related Blindness

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Monday, April 12, 2004

April 12, 2004 -- As baby boomers morph into senior citizens over the next two decades, the number of Americans who are legally blind will grow by millions, according to new figures from the government's top vision research group.

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"Developing blindness prevention strategies could help address the potentially devastating impact of the increased prevalence of eye diseases in the next few decades," Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD, said in a news release.


Prevention Strategies


National Eye Institute director of epidemiology Frederick Ferris III, MD, tells WebMD that the age-related blindness projections, derived from studies conduced during the past 15 years will help investigators identify areas for future research. In the study, AMD was more commonly found among white Americans, accounting for 54% of all blindness. Glaucoma and cataract were the leading causes of blindness among blacks and Hispanics. "We don't really know why African Americans have a much higher risk of blindness from glaucoma and why whites have a much higher risk from macular degeneration," he tells WebMD. "These are certainly questions that deserve further study."

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Macular degeneration is of particular concern, Ferris says, because it is the least treatable of the age-related eye conditions. Cataracts can now be removed with a quick and relatively simple, outpatient surgical procedure. More than 2 million Americans each year have the surgery, and more than 95% achieve improved vision as a result. Glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy are also highly treatable if identified early. Strategies for the prevention or treatment of macular degeneration have been few, but this is beginning to change, Ferris says. Treatment with vitamins and zinc has been shown to prevent blindness in about 25% of people with AMD, and studies also show that the antioxidant lutein, found in dark, leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, can protect against the disease, as can eating fish.


"For the first time we have treatments that can reduce the risk of further vision loss in people with macular degeneration," he says. "I think the major message is that there are now treatments for the four leading age-related causes of blindness, and for three of the four, the treatments are very effective. But people won't know they have these conditions if they don't have regular eye exams."



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SOURCES: Ferris, F.Archives of Ophthalmology, April 2004; vol 122: pp - 477-485. Frederick Ferris III, MD, director of clinical research, National Eye Institute; National Institutes of Health. Paul A. Sleving MD, PhD, director, National Eye Institute.


© 2004 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

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another article

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-04-12-vision-usat_x.htm


Studies foresee increased vision loss among boomers
By Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY

As the USA's 77 million baby boomers begin reaching retirement age, a substantial number will become blind or experience vision loss, sometimes because they fail to get proper — and early — treatment for eye problems. That's according to several studies on blindness and aging being released today in the medical journal Archives of Ophthalmology. Most Americans will retain good vision until they die. But with the 65-and-over population projected to grow from 12% to 21% of the population by 2020, society will be faced with a growing number of people who are blind.

About 3.3 million Americans 40 and over are blind or have low vision — a non-correctible visual impairment that interferes with the ability to perform everyday activities. That number is projected to reach 5.5 million by 2020, according to the National Eye Institute, part of the federal government's National Institutes of Health.

The aging of the population will bring a range of social and medical problems, but blindness is particularly problematic, study authors say."Vision is a very difficult thing to lose, and it's one of the joys of life," says study author John Kempen, assistant professor of ophthalmology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. "To have that taken away, often for a fair number of years, is really a tragedy. Millions of people are affected. It would be wonderful to turn that around."

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Other eye diseases — the three most common are age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, a disease of the retina that affects diabetics — can often be treated if caught early.But not all eye diseases are preventable. "There needs to be a public policy response to the huge number of cases of these diseases that are going to appear in the next 20 years," Kempen says.

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