Old People with Problems Seeing Close Objects
Predicted to Hit 1.4 Billion by 2020
Age-related presbyopia – farsightedness – keeps 410
million from tasks requiring near vision
Dec.
8, 2008 - It is estimated that more than 1 billion individuals worldwide
in 2005 had presbyopia, or age-related difficulty in seeing objects
nearby, with an estimated 410 million with the condition unable to
perform tasks requiring near vision, according to a report in the
December issue of
Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
Presbyopia occurs with age, as the eye's lens loses
its elasticity and ability to focus on close objects.
"Although known physiology and population
demographics suggest that presbyopia is common or nearly universal in
people older than 65 years, direct estimates of prevalence are rare,"
the authors write.
"The total number of people with presbyopia is
primarily of interest as a precursor to the figures of greatest public
health interest - the number of people with impaired vision due to
uncorrected or undercorrected presbyopia and the effect on their lives."
Brien A. Holden, Ph.D., D.Sc., of the University of
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues analyzed multiple
surveys to estimate the global prevalence of presbyopia, along with the
rate at which the condition is corrected and the vision impairment
caused when it is not. They then used the International Data Base of the
U.S. Census Bureau to extrapolate estimates for the future.
Using projections from these surveys, the
researchers estimate that 1.04 billion people globally had presbyopia in
2005, 517 million of whom had no eyeglasses or inadequate eyeglasses or
spectacles.
Most (386 million, or 94 percent) of the
individuals whose daily tasks were impaired by uncorrected presbyopia
lived in the developing world.
These estimates are based on the best available
information, the authors note.
"More epidemiological research in presbyopia is
needed to decrease the assumptions and generalizations required for a
better global estimate," they say. "As more data become available, an
increasingly accurate picture of the burden of presbyopia will emerge."
The researchers predict that the worldwide
prevalence of presbyopia will increase to 1.4 billion by 2020 and 1.8
billion by 2050.
"Without intervention to make spectacles more
accessible, the global number of individuals who will have a disability
associated with uncorrected presbyopia is predicted to grow to 563
million people by 2020," the authors conclude.
"If the goal of Vision 2020 to eliminate
unnecessary blindness and impaired vision, in this case due to
uncorrected refractive error, is to be achieved, planning will have to
include the provision of human resources, affordable spectacles and
systems of delivery for these half-billion people in need."
Editor's Note: This work was supported by a
public health grant from the Institute for Eye Research.
Keep up with the latest news for senior citizens, baby
boomers
Dec.
8, 2008 - It is estimated that more than 1 billion individuals worldwide
in 2005 had presbyopia, or age-related difficulty in seeing objects
nearby, with an estimated 410 million with the condition unable to
perform tasks requiring near vision, according to a report in the
December issue of
