Great Web Site by CDC's Vision Health Initiative
Topic: Eye Care

While researching the information for another blog entry, we stumble upon the Center for Disease Control's Vision Health Initiative website.

First the VHI notes that "approximately 11 million Americans 12 years and older could improve their vision through proper refractive correction. More than 3.3 million Americans 40 years and older are either legally blind (having best-corrected visual acuity of 6/60 or worse (=20/200) in the better-seeing eye) or are with low vision (having best-corrected visual acuity less than 6/12 (<20/40) in the better-seeing eye, excluding those who were categorized as being blind). The leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States are primarily age-related eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and Strabismus."

Second, it has excellent video on the eye's anatomy as well as common eye health issues, including refractive errors. Unfortunately we couldn't copy them into the blog or find them on YouTube. They could be valuable for instructing patients and new employees.

You can also access information about various states' vision health, such as Connecticut's:

Indicator	Percentage	95% CI
Visual Impairment
Distance Visual Impairment	14.2%	(13.0 - 15.5)
Near Visual Impairment	35.8%	(34.0 - 37.6)
Eye Diseases and Injury
Age-related Macular Degeneration	4.0%	(3.4 - 4.7)
Cataract	19.5%	(18.3 - 20.9)
Diabetic Retinopathy	21.6%	(17.2 - 26.8)
Glaucoma	4.2%	(3.6 - 4.8)
Access to Eye Care
Eye-care Visit in the Past Year	64.7%	(62.9 - 66.6)
Reasons for No Eye-care Visit
Cost/Insurance	17.9%	(15.5 - 20.5)
No Reason to Go	56.9%	(53.6 - 60.1)
Dilated Eye Examination in the Past Year	57.1%	(55.2 - 58.9)
Eye-care Insurance	72.1%	(70.4 - 73.7)

Data Source: CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System(BRFSS) at http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm.
Suggested Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Vision Health Initiative. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/