Study: Blind, visually impaired Americans over 40 expected to double by 2050

The number of Americans aged 40 and older who are blind or visually impaired is projected to double by 2050 to more than 8 million as the population ages, according to a study in JAMA Ophthalmology. Whites, women and older adults are expected to remain the most affected groups. African Americans account for the second highest proportion of both conditions by race, although Hispanics are expected to surpass them in the visual impairment category around 2040. The findings “suggest that there is a huge opportunity for screening efforts to identify people with correctable vision problems and early signs of eye diseases,” said Paul Sieving, M.D., director of the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study.