Rates of eye disease increasing in the United States, study suggests

CHICAGO — A new study estimates that more than 30 million of the approximately 130 million Americans aged 40 years and older suffer from leading causes of vision loss, according to a press release from Prevent Blindness America, the study's co-sponsor.

The revised Vision Problems in the U.S. report pooled data from a number of epidemiological studies to offer updated results of the 2002 study, the release said.

The report found that approximately 2 million Americans have been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration. AMD cases have increased by 25% since 2002 — the largest growth margin of all the major eye diseases.

In addition, more than 3.6 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, 2.29 million have been diagnosed with glaucoma and another 2 million may have undiagnosed glaucoma, according to the release.

Cataract remains the world's leading cause of preventable blindness, with 22.3 million cases diagnosed among U.S. adults alone.

The study estimates that the number of Americans with vision loss will double within the next 30 years, the release said.