This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (70)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Ophthalmology  • Ophthalmological Disorders  • Cataracts/ Lens  • Diabetic Retinopathy  • Eye Injuries/ Ocular Trauma  • Glaucoma  • Macular Degeneration  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Nathan G. Congdon, MD, MPH; David S. Friedman, MD, MPH; Thomas Lietman, MD

JAMA. 2003;290:2057-2060.

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

INTRODUCTION

Visual impairment, which may be defined as blindness (best vision of 20/200 in the better eye in the United States and <20/400 by the World Health Organization [WHO] definition) or low vision (<20/40 in the United States and <20/60 according to WHO), is one of the most common disabilities: an estimated 40 million people worldwide were blind nearly a decade ago, the time of the last accurate assessment, and 110 million people had low vision.¹ Among persons older than 40 years in the United States, 937 000 people were blind and 2.4 million people had low vision in 2002. Figures for the developing world, where approximately 90% of world blindness exists, and the developed world are expected to increase significantly during the next decades as the world's population ages.²

Refractive Error

Refractive error has been identified in a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Age-Related Causes of Blindness

Infectious Causes of Blindness

Nutritional and Metabolic Causes of Blindness

Trauma

Global Vision 2020 and the Challenge of World Blindness

Author Affiliations: Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Baltimore, Md (Drs Congdon and Friedman); and Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco (Dr Lietman).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Causes of Visual Impairment
Janet M. Torpy, Cassio Lynm, and Richard M. Glass
JAMA. 2003;290(15):2088.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Rates of Progression in Diabetic Retinopathy During Different Time Periods: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Wong et al.
Diabetes Care 2009;32:2307-2313.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence and Causes of Visual Impairment in Chinese Adults in Urban Southern China: The Liwan Eye Study
Huang et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2009;127:1362-1367.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Blood pressure and glaucoma
Costa et al.
Br J Ophthalmol 2009;93:1276-1282.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Advances in the Medical Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy
Simo and Hernandez
Diabetes Care 2009;32:1556-1562.
FULL TEXT  

Open-Angle Glaucoma and the Risk of Stroke Development: A 5-Year Population-Based Follow-Up Study
Ho et al.
Stroke 2009;40:2685-2690.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Ocular Associations of Diabetes Other Than Diabetic Retinopathy
Jeganathan et al.
Diabetes Care 2008;31:1905-1912.
FULL TEXT  

The rationale and evidence base for a protective role of macular pigment in age-related maculopathy
Loane et al.
Br J Ophthalmol 2008;92:1163-1168.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dietary {omega}-3 Fatty Acid and Fish Intake in the Primary Prevention of Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Chong et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2008;126:826-833.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effect of breastfeeding and sociodemographic factors on visual outcome in childhood and adolescence
Rudnicka et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2008;87:1392-1399.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dietary antioxidants and primary prevention of age related macular degeneration: systematic review and meta-analysis
Chong et al.
BMJ 2007;335:755-755.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Expression of erythropoietin receptor in human epiretinal membrane of proliferative diabetic retinopathy
Kase et al.
Br J Ophthalmol 2007;91:1376-1378.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genetic Origins of Cataract
Shiels and Hejtmancik
Arch Ophthalmol 2007;125:165-173.
FULL TEXT  

CTRP5 Is a Membrane-Associated and Secretory Protein in the RPE and Ciliary Body and the S163R Mutation of CTRP5 Impairs Its Secretion
Mandal et al.
IOVS 2006;47:5505-5513.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Erythropoietin Is Expressed in the Human Retina and It Is Highly Elevated in the Vitreous Fluid of Patients With Diabetic Macular Edema.
Hernandez et al.
Diabetes Care 2006;29:2028-2033.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dietary carbohydrate intake and glycemic index in relation to cortical and nuclear lens opacities in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study
Chiu et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;83:1177-1184.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Myopic Refractive Error in Adult Latinos: The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study
Tarczy-Hornoch et al.
IOVS 2006;47:1845-1852.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography: Ultra-high Speed, Ultra-high Resolution Ophthalmic Imaging
Chen et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2005;123:1715-1720.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Aberrant Accumulation of Fibulin-3 in the Endoplasmic Reticulum Leads to Activation of the Unfolded Protein Response and VEGF Expression
Roybal et al.
IOVS 2005;46:3973-3979.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A case control study of age related macular degeneration and use of statins
Smeeth et al.
Br J Ophthalmol 2005;89:1171-1175.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Association Between Breastfeeding and Likelihood of Myopia in Children
Chong et al.
JAMA 2005;293:3001-3002.
FULL TEXT  

Carbohydrate intake and glycemic index in relation to the odds of early cortical and nuclear lens opacities
Chiu et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2005;81:1411-1416.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Curcumin and Turmeric Delay Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Cataract in Rats
Suryanarayana et al.
IOVS 2005;46:2092-2099.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Age-related macular degeneration: armed against ARMD
Weir
CMAJ 2004;170:463-464.
FULL TEXT