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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2002;287:1930.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As baby boomers age toward retirement, many will lose their eyesight to diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, cataract, and glaucoma, warns the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Md. The institute's new report, Vision Problems in the U.S., coproduced with the volunteer group Prevent Blindness America, estimates that the number of blind and visually impaired adults aged 40 years and older will double in the next 30 years. Today more than 1 million middle-aged and older adults are blind and 2.4 million are visually impaired.

Of the four major eye diseases, diabetic retinopathy is the best understood and most common, affecting 5.3 million Americans aged 18 years and older. The report suggests that people with diabetes can lower their risk of the complication by controlling blood glucose and blood pressure levels. Laser photocoagulation can help stop the advance toward blindness.

Age-related macular degeneration, however, is the leading cause of blindness . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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