Increase in Nonrefractive Visual Impairment in US Tied to Diabetes

Print media covered a study suggesting that an increasing percentage of Americans are losing their eyesight due to the complications of diabetes. Because diabetes rates are on the rise, so are the complications of the illness, including those that affect eyesight.

        USA Today  (12/10, Szabo, Today) reports, "The nation's twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are beginning to rob more Americans of their sight," according to a study  published Dec. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "The percentage of American adults suffering from uncorrectable vision loss spiked 21% in only about six years, rising to nearly 1.7% of the population, according to an analysis of the years 1999-2002 to 2005-08." However, "rates of visual impairment doubled among poor people and those who had had diabetes for a decade or more," the study found.