Eyeworld

22 March 2018 EW NEWS & OPINION Research highlight by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Staff Writer "The forces that drive that are not an increase in disease, just ag- ing," Dr. Friedman said. "As people age, we see a lot more disease. Most blinding conditions are age related. As our population gets older and lives longer, we're going to see a lot more visual impairment. But it raises the question, if we have a lot of visually impaired people, what are we going to do? Visual impairment leads to a decline in function. The visually impaired are more likely to be depressed, and less likely to stay independent in their own homes." While there are strides being made on the curative and manage- ment sides of diseases that cause low vision and blindness, and advances are being made to help people cope with these conditions from a life- style standpoint, Dr. Friedman said it will be important to figure out which technological breakthroughs would be helpful and how to imple- ment them into people's lives. One limitation of the study is that the latest data is from almost a decade ago. "I think there are limitations when using 10-year-old data, and the estimates are going to be less accurate than if we had data from today, but I don't think there has been any massive breakthrough that's going to fundamentally change what was going on in 2008 compared with now," Dr. Friedman said. "There may be slightly bet- ter access to cataract or refractive services, and a lot of conditions like macular degeneration have had some improvements, but these diseases have not gone away. Maybe the numbers would be a little lower, but I don't think there have been paradigm shifts." EW Reference 1. Chan T, et al. Estimates of incidence and prevalence of visual impairment, low vision, and blindness in the United States. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2018;136:12–19. Editors' note: Dr. Friedman has no financial interests related to his comments. Contact information Friedman: David.Friedman@jhu.edu Wilmer Eye Institute, the prevalence of blindness and low vision of less than 20/40 best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the 45-year-old and older population in 2017 is about 3.89 million, and 1.48 million are at 20/60 or less. It was estimated that the increase of those in 2017 with a BCVA of 20/40 or less was about 482,000, and BCVA of 20/60 or less was about 184,000. "I think most studies that are just looking at prevalence and inci- dence are meant to serve as tools for public policy and awareness," Dr. Friedman said. "I think the reason to have these is to help guide people as they're planning what resources are needed and how we should best plan research and other activities." The estimated increase in annu- al incidence by 2050 is due, for the most part, to an aging population. … in fundamental science research and hopefully that will lead to cures, but we have a real world problem facing us. I think there needs to be a lot more implementation research on how we can get people who have lost vision to function better in this world." This is going to become even more important with recent esti- mates coming from a team at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, predicting new annual vision impairment and blindness cases will more than double by 2050 in the 45 and older age group. 1 Using data from the 2007–2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 2010 U.S. Census data, low vision and blind- ness projections were made for 2017, 2030, and 2050. According to analysis led by Tiffany Chan, OD, Study predicts increase in visual impairment due to growth in an aging population M uch of eye care is focused on curing disease—and right- fully so, said David S. Friedman, MD, director of the Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. But the results of medicine's inability to do so, resulting in visual impairment and blindness, and what to do about that often goes underemphasized. "If you look at the published literature on low vision rehabili- tation, it is limited," Dr. Friedman said. "We do a tremendous amount Incidence of low vision, blindness in the U.S. expected to more than double by 2050

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