Eye & Vision Statistics
 
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Eye Care Statistics - General
Aging and Vision
Chair Time Calculation
Diabetes and Vision
Eyewear Sales 
Glaucoma
Injuries, Eye
    Injuries, Eye - warfare
Insertion of Prosthetic Lens
Macular Degeneration
Melanoma
NEI Grants, Rankings
Ocular Disorders in Women
Visual Impairment
World Blindness

Eye Care Statistics - General

Vision Problems in the U.S., 2002.
http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata/pdf/VPUS.pdf

  •   Prevalence of all  types of adult vision impairment and age-related eye disease in   America.  Up-to-date source of statistics to use.


    • Review of Optometry Part 2  August 2004 
    Raise Your Diagnostic Standard with the Optomap Retinal Exam  pp. 4-5.
    Jones W. 

  •    "The prevalence of eye disease." [Practitioners tend to focus on the big three--MAD, DR and glaucoma--but many other ocular abnormalities can be spotted with new technology]


    • Healthy People 2010 Vision objectives move from Developmental to Measurable.
    Baseline Data and Targets Available for Vision Objectives.

  • "Baseline data are now available for all of the vision objectives with the exception of Objective 28-3, impairment due to refractive errors. Data on this objective is expected in early 2005.  Most of the data are from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey. With the release of this data, the vision objectives have now been moved from "developmental" to "measurable" status. A target for 2010 has been set for all objectives that have baseline data.
  • Baseline data and targets can be found under each objective from the front page of the   Healthy Vision Website: http://www.healthyvision2010.org/.   An operational definition is also provided for each objective. These definitions are provided to assist in the interpretation of the data presented for each Healthy People 2010 objective and to facilitate comparable measurement of these objectives by researchers from the national, State, and local government agencies as well as those from private organizations. Click on the "operational definition" for information on how to use the data on a local level.
  • This data will assist you in developing targets for your communities and programs to address the vision objectives."


    • For statistics from the year 1950:
    J. Am. Med. Assn.  145:26-29, 1951 Jan. 6.
    Lancaster, W.B. and Foote, F.M. "The battle against blindness."

    Aging and Vision

    Low Vision and Aging Web Site
    http://www.aoa.gov/prof/notes/Docs/Low_Vision.pdf

    Trends in vision and hearing among older Americans, 2001.
    http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/agingtrends/02vision.pdf

    Arch. Ophthalmol.  121: 1303-1310, 2003 Sep.
    Lee, P. P., Feldman, Z.W., Ostermann, J., Brown, D.S., Sloan, F.A. 
    "Longitudinal Prevalence of Major Eye Diseases." 

  • [Describes the prevalence across time of 3 chronic eye diseases among a representative cohort of elderly subjects.]


    • Rev. Optom. 140:4,8, 2003 Oct.
    Murphy, J.  "Eye disease up, exams down." 

  • [More seniors are developing eye disease, but get eye exams too infrequently.]


    • Arch. Ophthalmol. 122:546-551, 2004 Apr.
    Roy, M.S., Klein, R., O'Colmain, B.J., Klein, B,E.K., Moss, S.E., Kempen, J.H. 

  • "The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among adult type 1 diabetic persons in the United States."

    •  
  • [More than 28 million Americans over age 40 have eye ailments that put them at risk for vision loss and blindness, researchers say, warning that the numbers will surge as the population ages.

    •  
  • Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide and the leading cause of poor vision in the United States, affecting an estimated 20.5 million American adults. That number is expected to climb to 30.1 million in the next 20 years, researchers say. Other major causes of blindness and vision loss are macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. All are strongly linked with aging.]


    • Chair Time Calculation

          As most professional persons, we calculate the chair-side time on an hourly rate. To arrive at the hourly rate we would normally calculate how many eye examinations could be performed in that time and multiply that by the full Medicare rebate allowed for that examination. In my case this would represent 2 exams @ $51.70,= $103.4 per hour. 
          How long does it take to fit a pair of contact lenses properly? For a simple pair of regular soft lenses the following time schedule should help you. 

          Visit 1- Initial visit including full eye examination 30-45 mins 
          Visit 2- Collection and instruction 30 mins 
          Visit 3- follow-up at 2 weeks 20 mins (includes lenses out corneal health 
              assessment) 
          Visit 4- follow-up at 3 month 20 mins (includes lenses out corneal health 
              assessment) 

          Therefore total time is 1.6 hours = $165 

          Any procedures will be lengthened with more complex cases, eg, astigmatism, RGP lenses, bifocals etc. and these are charged as appropriate from the hourly rate.  Generally most practitioners will quote a cost for a regular contact lens fitting. 

    Source:  Andy Griffiths, Independent Optometrist, Adelaide, South Australia. [no year for this study]

    Diabetes and Vision
    Rev. Optom.   140 (9): 78-80,82,84,87,89,  2003 Sep 15.
    Eisenberg,J.S. "The diabetes epidemic."

  • [The Director of the Division of Diabetic Translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaking at the Amer. Acad. Optom. Meeting in December 2002, explained that within 24 hours, among other diseases from diabetes, about 70-75 people will go blind from diabetes.]


    • National diabetes statistics from the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. 2002. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/index.htm

    MMWR Weekly.  November 19, 2004, 53(45):1069-71.
    Prevalence of Visual Impairment and Selected Eye Diseases Among Persons Aged >50 Years With and Without Diabetes -- United States, 2002. 

    Prevalence of Visual Impairment and Selected Eye Diseases Among Persons Aged >/=50 Years With and Without Diabetes --- United States, 2002.  MMWR Weekly November 19, 2004 / 53(45);1069-1071.
    http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5345a3.htm

    Eyewear Sales
    Vision Council of America. The VICA optical industry compendium: a resource guide for industry growth. Arlington, VA: Vision Council of America, 3rd ed., 1999.

  • Includes statistical and trend information on all aspects of the optical industry including such topics as growth of the optical industry, sales of frames, lens, and contact lenses, use of refractive surgery, in addition to an overall review of the optometric profession.
  • Of the $15.4 billion in retail eyewear sales in 1997, contact lenses were responsible for 12.5% ($1.9 billon). Sales of Plano sunglasses account for 5.8% ($0.9 billion). 


    • Source: Jobson Optical Group Database

    Glaucoma
    For statistics, see this site:
    Vision Problems in the U.S., 2002.
    http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata/pdf/VPUS.pdf

    Injuries, Eye
    Ophthalmic Epidemiology 5:115-6, 1998.
    Pizzarello, L.D.   "Ocular trauma:  time for action." [editorial]

  • [At least one in every thousand people in the world will experience a significant eye injury this year.]


    • Wong, T.Y. and Tielsch, J.M.   "Epidemiology of ocular trauma."   In Duane's Clinical Ophthalmology, vol. 5, ch. 56.  Phila., Lippincott, 1998.

  • [In the U.S., approximately 2.4 million ocular injuries are estimated to occur each year.]


    • Journal of Community Eye Health (no. 24)÷1997. 

  • [Concerns the magnitude of injuries worldwide.  It covers the causes and prevention, health promotion and eye injuries, ocular injury pattern in Pakistan, primary care of eye injuries, and epidemiology in practice.] 
    • Journal of Community Eye Health, International Centre for Eye Health, Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V9EL. 
    Tel:  +44 171 608 6910. fax: +44 171 250 3207; 
    email: eyeresourse@ucl.ac.uk.  Annual subscription 25 British pounds.  Free to workers in developing countries.
    Ophthalmology Clinics of North America  12( 3): 333-343, 1999 Sep.
    Witherspoon, C.D., Kuhn, F., Morris, R., and Mann, L.   "Epidemiology of general and sports eye injuries."

    Graefes Arch. Clin. Exp. Ophthalmol.   238: 153-157, 2000 Feb.
    May, D. R., Kuhn, F. P. , Morris, R. E., Witherspoon, C. D., Danis, R. P., Matthews, L. Mann, G. P.  "The epidemiology of serious eye injuries from the U.S. Eye Injury Registry."

    Workplace injury, illness and fatality statistics. 2002.
    http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/work.html

    Injuries - Eye - Warfare
    Surv. Ophthalmol.   41(6): 433-459, 1997 May-Jun.
    Wong, T.Y., Seet, M.B., and Ang, C.-L.   "Eye injuries in twentieth century warfare:  a historical perspective."

  • [Provides tables of statistics.]


    • Insertion of Prosthetic Lens (Pseudophakos)

  • Total number of ambulatory and inpatient insertion of prosthetic lens (pseudophakos) procedure in the U.S. for 1996: 1,840,000.   The numbers are broken down also by ambulatory, inpatient, male, female, age, region of country.


    • Source: Vital and Health Statistics: Ambulatory and Inpatient Procedures in the United States, 1996. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Nov. 1998.

    Macular Degeneration
    For statistics, see this site:
    Vision Problems in the U.S., 2002.
    http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata/pdf/VPUS.pdf

    Ophthalmology 111(7):1280-1287, 2004 Jul.
    Tomany, S.C., et al.  "Risk factors for incident age-related macular degeneration: pooled findings from three continents."

    Melanoma 
    Conjunctival
    American Journal of Ophthalmology 135(6): 800-806, 2003 Jun. 
    Yu, G-P, Hu, D-N, McCormick, S, Finger, P.T. "Conjunctival melanoma: is it increasing in the United States?" 

  • [Incidence rate for white men increased 302% from 1973 to 1999, while the rate appears stable among white women.]


    • Uveal
    Ophthalmology   110(5): 962-965, 2003 May 
    Singh, A.D, Topham,A."Survival rate with uveal melanoma in the United States: 1973-1997." 

  • [The relative survival rate with uveal melaoma has remained stable from 1973-1993.]

    •  

     

    Ophthalmology 110(5): 956-961, 2003 May. 
    Singh, A.D, Topham,A.  "Incidence of uveal melanoma in the United States: 1973-1997." 

  • [The age adjusted incidence rate for uveal melanoma has remained stable from 1973 to 1993.]


    • National Eye Institute Grants Awarded÷Ranking each Fiscal Year

    Ranking from an internal database at NEI.  Contact person for the database:

    Carolyn S. Bealle, Information Technology  Specialist
    National Eye Institute, NIH
    Twinbrook Building (5635FL), #1711
    Bethesda, MD  20892
    Office (301) 435-8850
    FAX   (301) 480-5073

    Additional contact:
    John R. Whitaker 
    NEI Office of Science Policy
    phone 301-496-4308. 
     
    Top 10 Organizations Receiving Grants from NEI, FY2003
    Institutions
    Total Awarded
    Count 
    of 
    Awards
    JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY $ 14,318,919 
     45
    SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE $ 13,701,088 
     35
    WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY  $ 11,819,544 
    27
    UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON  $ 11,431,984
    20
    HARVARD UNIVERSITY & AFFILIATES $  9,851,040
    28
    UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA  $  8,604,122 
    22
    USC/DOHENY INSTITUTE $  6,975,967 
    12
    UCLA/JULES STEIN INSTITUTE $  6,551,539
    20
    UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR $  5,263,348
    17
    SMITH-KETTLEWELL EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE  $  5,156,943
    15

    Wednesday, January 07, 2004 Page 1/ 2
    Fiscal Year 2003 NEI Ext Grant & Contract Support for Research to Depts of Ophthalmology-Vision Research Cntrs (All Mechanisms-US)

    Ocular Disorders in Women
    Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2003 Feb;58(2):137-44.
    Dinn RB, Harris A, Marcus PS. "Ocular changes in pregnancy. Review."

    Rhode Island Medicine 78:352-5, 1995.
    Figueroa, F.X. and Snady-McCoy, L.C.
    "Ocular disorders in women."  Bibliography at end of article.
    Includes the following data:

  • Grave's Disease affects as much as 2% of the female population.
  • Sjogren's syndrome predominantly affects women in the 3rd or 4th decade of life.
  • 90% of patients with Sjogren's have keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye) secondary to lacrimal gland infiltration.
  • 90% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are young to middle-aged women.
  • Metastatic carcinoma of the eye: carcinoma of the breast is the primary lesion that most often metastasizes to ocular tissues.
  • 12% of pregnant women with known diabetes and no retinopathy will develop some background diabetic retinopathy during pregnancy and greater than 50% of these will show regression postpartum with the vast majority suffering no visual impairment.  Up to 47% of patients with background diabetic retinopathy at the start of pregnancy will have worsening of the retinopathy.  5% of these patients will progress to proliferative retinopathy.


    • More information available via Duane's Ophthalmology on CD-ROM.

    Refractive Surgery
    J. Cataract Refract. Surg. 30:1781-1785, 2004.
    Duffey, R.J. and Leaming, D.   "Trends in refractive surgery in the United States." 

    Transplants, Corneal

  • In 2003, 46,436 corneal grafts were supplied by US eye banks. The gift of sight was donated by over 42,000 donors; 32,144 corneal transplants were performed in the US. http://www.restoresight.org/newsroom/2003stats2.html


    • Uveitis
    Review of Optometry 141(3): 8, 2004 March 15.
    "Study: Uveitis three times more common."

  • [Uveitis may affect an estimated 280,000 Americans each year.  Researchers reviewed patient records and found a prevalence of 117 cases per 100,000 people. This is according to retrospective study among Kaiser Permanente medical centers in six northern California communities.]


    • Visual Impairment

    Statistics on Vision Impairment: A Resource Manual, April 2002. Lighthouse International.
    http://www.lighthouse.org/research_statistics.htm

    World Health Organization data on visual impairmant.
    http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/844.pdf

    Vision Problems in the U.S., 2002.
    http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyedata/pdf/VPUS.pdf

  • [Prevalence of all  types of adult vision impairment and age-related eye disease in America.]


    • Evaluation of permanent visual impairment.
    For information see: 
         Section 6, Physicians' Desk Reference for Ophthalmology, 26th ed., 1998. 
         pp. 59-73. (Reprint from Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 
         4th ed., 1993, AMA.
    Also: 
         Website for: Visual Impairments: Determining Eligibility for Social Security 
         Benefits. Committee on Disability Determination for Individuals with Visual 
         Impairments.
         Peter Lennie and Susan B. Van Hemel, Editors,
         National Research Council. NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
         Washington, DC, 2002.
         http://books.nap.edu/html/visual_impairments/index.html

    Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82(11):844-851, 2004.
    Resnikoff, S., et al.  "Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002."

    Ophthalmology    108 (12): 2347-2357, 2001 Dec.
    Buch, H., Vinding, T., Vesti Nielsen, N. "Prevalence and causes of visual impairment according to WHO and US criteria in an aged, urban Scandinavian population: The Copenhagen City Eye Study 

  • [ARMD and cataract are the leading causes of visual impairment worldwide, at least one-third of which could be treated by increased access to cataract surgery] 


    • Ophthalmic Epidemiol.   10(4: 279-291, 2003 Oct.
    Rothe Nissen, K., Katrin Sjølie, A., Jensen, H., Borch-Johnsen, K., Rosenberg, T.  "The prevalence and incidence of visual impairment in people of age 20-59 years in industrialized countries: A review.ä 

    JAMA    290(15): 2057-2060, 2003 Oct. 15.
    Congdon, N.G., Friedman, D.S., Lietman, T. 
    "Important causes of visual impairment in the world today." 

  • [Leading causes of visual impairment and ocular discomfort are cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, dry eye, ocular allergy, and retinitis pigmentosa.]


    • Nature Reviews/Drug Discovery   2(6):448-59, 2003 Jun.
    Clark, A.F., Yorio, T.
    "Review:  Ophthalmic drug discovery." 

  • [Table of leading causes of visual impairment and ocular discomfort.]


    • Archives of Ophthalmology   122(6):911-912, 2004 Jun.
    Sommer, A. 
    "Global Health, Global Vision." [Editorial]

  • [An estimated 40 million people are blind and 3 times that number are visually impaired, numbers compounding at a rate of 5% per year. The most common cause of visual impairment is uncorrected refractive error. This editorial contains a lot of statistics and a bibliography.]


    • Ophthalmic Epidemiology 11( 2):67-115, 2004
     Pascolini, D., et al.
    "2002 Global update of available data on visual impairment: a compilation of population-based prevalence studies."

    Archives of Ophthalmology 122(4):4770485, 2004 Apr.
    The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group.  "Causes and prevalence of visual impairment among adults in the United States."

    Ophthalmology 111(6):1132-1140, 2004 Jun.
    The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study.  "Prevalence and risk indicators of visual impairment and blindness in Latinos."

    World Blindness

    Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2:5-39, 1995. 
    Thylefors, B., Negrel, A.-D., Pararajasegaram, R., and Dadzie, K.Y. 
    "Available data on blindness (update 1994)." 
          A summary form is filled in for each country, which includes information 
         listed under headings as follows: 
                1. Continent, country, WHO and World Bank regions 
                2. Population estimate in millions (1990) 
                3. Date of data 
                4. Type of data (registration, survey, census, estimate,etc.) 
                5. Definition of blindness 
                6. Population (area) covered 
                7. Prevalence of blindness 
                8. Prevalence of low vision 
                9. Main causes of blindness 
                10. Source of data 

    Practical Optometry 7:192-196, 1996.
    Schaumberg, D.A. and Dana, M.R.  "The epidemiology of blindness: a global overview."
    Includes these statistics:
     

  • World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 38 million people worldwide are blind and more than 110 million have low vision. With the world's population estimated at 5.3 billion, this translates roughly into an overall blindness rate of 7 per 1000. More than 90% of all blind individuals live in developing countries.

    •  
  • The leading cause of blindness worldwide is cataract, accounting for approximately 42% of cases worldwide (approximately 16 million people are bilaterally blind from cataract and over 95% of such cataracts are age-related). Trachoma, and the resultant corneal scarring, account for the second highest proportion, causing over 15% of all cases of blindness. Glaucoma has recently been ranked third by WHO, causing approximately 13% of all cases of blindness. Approximately 5 million persons are blind from glaucoma. It is estimated that 13.5 million individuals worldwide suffer from primary angle-closure glaucoma, representing approx. 27% of all glaucoma cases. The remaining 12% of cases (approx. 2.7 million individuals) are secondary glaucomas. Onchocerciasis, xerophthalmia, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), and diabetic retinopathy are the other major causes of blindness.

    •  
  • By the year 2020 the number of blind people over 60 years of age will likely reach 54 million world-wide if current trends continue.

    •  

     

    PL Ansel, rev. 3/05

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    Copyright (C) 2005 by the Association of Vision Science Librarians. All rights reserved. Document maintained on server: http://optometry.berkeley.edu/ 
    Last update 3/11/2005