Demographics

The following article is a good reference if you are looking for
demographics of visual impairment.  In some areas it merges data from
Europe and Australia (sorry Canada).

LV and Blindness are defined via visual acuity.  Blindness = Acuity
>=20/200, 6/60, LV = not bline + Acuity  20>= 20/40, 6/12

Causes and Prevalence of Visual Impairment Among Adults in the UnitedStates

Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122(4):477-485

*Results*  Based on demographics from the 2000 US Census, an estimated
937 000(0.78%) Americans older than 40 years were blind (US definition). An
additional2.4 million Americans (1.98%) had low vision. The leading cause
of blindnessamong white persons was age-related macular degeneration (54.4%
of the cases),while among black persons, cataract and glaucoma accounted
for more than 60%of blindness. Cataract was the leading cause of low
vision, responsible forapproximately 50% of bilateral vision worse than
6/12 (20/40) among white,black, and Hispanic persons. The number of blind
persons in the US is projectedto increase by 70% to 1.6 million by 2020,
with a similar rise projected forlow vision.


Corresponding author: Nathan Congdon, MD, MPH, Wilmer Eye Institute,Wilmer
120, 600 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21287 (e-mail: ncongdon@jhmi.edu).

Submitted for publication April 3, 2003; final revision received
November19, 2003; accepted November 19, 2003.

>From the Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute,The
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md (Drs Congdon, Friedman, and
Kempen,and Ms Muñoz); Macro International, Inc, Calverton, Md (Ms
O'Colmain);Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam,
the Netherlands(Dr Klaver); Department of Ophthalmology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison(Dr Klein); Centre for Eye Research Australia, University
of Melbourne, EastMelbourne, Victoria (Dr Taylor); Department of
Ophthalmology, Centre for VisionResearch, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New
South Wales, Australia (Dr Mitchell);Department of Ophthalmology,
University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,Australia (Dr Mitchell); and
the Department of Preventive Medicine, StateUniversity of New York, Stony
Brook (Dr Hyman).

This study was supported by funding from Prevent Blindness
America,Schaumburg, Ill, and the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Md.

Members of the Eye Diseases Prevalence ResearchGroup

The members of the Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group are as follows:
The Baltimore Eye Survey, Baltimore, Md: James M. Tielsch;Alfred Sommer;
Joanne Katz; Harry A. Quigley. The BarbadosEye Studies, Barbados, West
Indies: M. Cristina Leske; Suh-Yuh Wu;Barbara Nemesure; Anselim Hennis;
Leslie Hyman; Andrew Schachat. Beaver Dam Eye Study, Beaver Dam, Wis:
Barbara E. K. Klein; RonaldKlein; Kristine E. Lee; Scot E. Moss; Sandra C.
Tomany. Blue Mountains Eye Study, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia:
PaulMitchell; Jie Jin Wang; Elena Rochtchina; Wayne Smith; Robert G.
Cumming. The Melbourne Visual Impairment Project, Melbourne,
Victoria,Australia: Hugh R. Taylor; Cathy McCarty; Bickol Mukesh. The
Center for Eye Research, Melbourne: LeAnn M. Weih; Patricia M.Livingston;
Mylan Van Newkirk; Cara L. Fu; Peter Dimitrov; Matthew Wensor. Proyecto VER
(Vision Evaluation Research), Nogales and Tucson,Ariz: Sheila West; Jorge
Rodriguez (deceased); Aimee Broman; RobertSnyder. Rotterdam Eye Study,
Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Paulus T. V. M. de Jong; M. Kamran Ikram;
Caroline C. W. Klaver; RogerC. W. Wolfs; Simone de Voogd; Johannes
Vingerling; Redmer van Leeuwen, MD. Salisbury Eye Evaluation Project,
Salisbury, Md: SheilaWest; Gary Rubin; Karen Bandeen Roche; Beatriz Muñoz;
KathyTurano; Oliver Schein; Donald Duncan.
Figures