Other Statistics
Vision Impairment and Hip Fractures
- Vision impairment is the cause of 18% of hip fractures among older Americans (Felson, Anderson, Hannan, Milton, Wilson, & Kiel, 1989). This reflects approximately 63,000 hip fractures per year due to vision loss.
- According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2001), hip fractures cost an average of $37,000 per hip fracture. This reflects an estimated cost of $2.3 billion per year for hip fractures due to vision impairment.
Area of Residence
- In the U.S., most persons who have a vision impairment live in
metropolitan areas (70%), but they are less likely to live in
metropolitan areas than are persons without visual impairments (78%)
(Schmeidler & Halfmann, 1998b; based on 1994 NHIS-D).
- Among all individuals who report "serious difficulty seeing,
even when wearing glasses or contact lenses," 33% live in cities, 37%
live in suburbs, 28% live in non-metropolitan areas (e.g., small towns)
and 1% live in farm areas (Schmeidler & Halfmann, 1998b).
- In comparison to the general population, persons who report serious difficulty seeing, are over-represented in cities and non-metropolitan areas and somewhat under-represented in the suburbs (i.e., 48% of general population live in suburbs) (Schmeidler & Halfmann, 1998b).
Knowledge and Attitudes About Vision Loss
Results of the Lighthouse National Survey on Vision Loss (The Lighthouse Inc.,1995) indicated that there is great fear and limited knowledge about vision loss and aging among middle aged and older adults:
- Only 43% of respondents correctly identified the following statement as false: "All older people will become visually impaired as part of the normal aging process". Forty three percent believed it was true and 14% did not know.
- 71% of Americans age 45 and older fear being blind more than being deaf; 76% fear blindness more than having to use a wheel chair; and 70% fear blindness more than losing a limb. Only 41% fear blindness more than having a mental or emotional illness.
- 26% of people without a visual impairment report fear when
meeting a person with a visual impairment, feeling "what's happened to
them might happen to you".
Use of Corrective Eyewear
The American Optometric Association (1997) reports the following statistics on persons who wear contact lenses:
- Nearly 25 million Americans wear contact lenses.
- Two-thirds of all contact lens wearers are female.
- 10% are age 16 or younger.
- 30% are 17 to 24 years old.
- 50% are 25 to 44 years old.
- Most are nearsighted.
It is estimated that more than 150 million people in the U.S. use corrective eyewear for refractive errors (Prevent Blindness America, 2002).
An estimated 29% of males and 40% of females ages 18 to 35 wear corrective lenses. This increases to 44% of males and 53% of females ages 35 to 54 and 61% of males and 66% of females age 55 and older who wear corrective lenses (American Association of Retired Persons, 1995).