Vision Loss increasing in Working Age Americans

Vision loss is increasing in the United States and so is the prevalence of diabetes.  Americans are being diagnosed with the disease at a much younger age and that means they are living with the disease for a longer period of time.  A new study examined what effect diabetes along with other risk factors, are having on vision loss in U.S. adults. “Visual impairment that cannot be corrected with glasses, increased by about 20% over the last six to seven years. The only major risk factor for vision loss that increased was diabetes lasting 10 or more years.”  Dr. David Friedman from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and co-authors examined data from people participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  Researchers looked at vision health from 1999 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2008.  “When we looked at 20 to 40 years of age we saw and increase of 40%. If we continue at the pace that we’re going we’re going to see a lot of working age Americans with vision loss related to diabetes.” The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.