Diabetes Epidemic Signals an Increase in Blindness, Too

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Diabetes Epidemic Signals an Increase in Blindness, Too
December 10, 2008
By RONI CARYN RABIN
The New York Times

The number of Americans who could lose their vision to diabetes-related eye diseases is going to skyrocket over the next four decades, with elderly Hispanics and blacks hit hardest because of higher rates of Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The report projects that the number of adults 40 and older with diabetic retinopathy — the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults — will reach 16 million in 2050, up from 5.5 million in 2005.

An advanced form of the disease will affect 3.4 million people in 2050, almost triple the 1.2 million affected in 2005. The report was published on Tuesday in The Archives of Opthalmology.

“These are alarming numbers,” said Dr. Jinan B. Saaddine, an epidemiologist at the disease centers and an author of the study. “This calls for more awareness and more action, not just to do something about the condition before it develops but to do more to prevent diabetes to start with.”

“All of this could be prevented by preventing diabetes in the first place,” she added. “That’s the big picture.”

Diabetics are more susceptible to developing cataracts and glaucoma as well, and the study estimates that the number of diabetics with glaucoma will quadruple to 1.4 million, while the number with cataracts will more than triple to 10 million.

Older Hispanics and black Americans will be disproportionately affected, according to the report. Glaucoma cases will increase almost 12-fold among Hispanic diabetics 65 and older, and the number of cataract cases will increase more than 7-fold among black diabetics 75 and older.

People with diabetic retinopathy usually do not have symptoms until they actually start to lose vision. As a result, many skip the recommended annual eye exams.

And though treatments are available, they are most effective early in the course of the illness, said Dr. Lloyd Aiello, director of the Beetham Eye Institute at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

Dr. Aiello said the figures were sobering but not surprising.

“We’re in the middle of a worldwide diabetes epidemic that is just taking off,” he said. “The economic impact is huge, even if you just look at the cost to the federal government of disability and reduced productivity.”

“Many of these,” he added, “are working people.”