AMDAI Co-Sponsors NAEVR/AAR Congressional Briefing
AMDAI is pleased to have been a co-sponsor of the September 25, 2007, Capitol Hill briefing to members of the U.S. Congress and their staff, hosted by James Jorkasky, executive director of NAEVR, and Daniel Perry, executive director of AAR. They used the event to announce the release of a new volume of The Silver Book®:Chronic Disease and Medical Innovation in an Aging Nation. The new volume, dedicated to age-related eye disease, is called The Silver Book®:Vision Loss. It is a compendium of facts about the health-related and economic burden in the U.S. of AMD, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma.
The timing of the Congressional briefing and the release of The Silver Book®:Vision Loss was no coincidence. It coincided with Worldwide Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Awareness Week 2007. This is a week when members of AMDAI-the world’s leading vision, seniors, and research organization-join forces and engage in media campaigns, public activities, and community outreach to create greater awareness of age related macular degeneration. AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in the developed world.
The briefing in Washington, DC, featured Michael Gorin, M.D., Ph.D. (Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles), David Rein, Ph.D, M.P.A. (Research Triangle Institute [RTI] International), and Hyman Shapiro, J.D., an attorney and AMD patient. Other co-sponsors were the Congressional Vision Caucus and Prevent Blindness America.
Mr. Perry reminded the audience that in just a little over three years, the first wave of the 78 million U.S. baby boomers turn 65. Then, for the 18 years that follow, about 10,000 Americans each day reach that mark. The impact on health costs and quality of life will be enormous.
NAEVR’s Jorkasky stressed the importance of basic, clinical, and translational research conducted by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and elsewhere for finding treatments and cures for age-related eye diseases. He pointed out that The Silver Book® data also support forthcoming recommendations from the September 2007 international ARVO-sponsored meeting in Vancouver to work on a global assessment of the economic impact of vision impairment. (ARVO, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology).
Dr. Gorin described dramatic advances in understanding causes of AMD and other vision disorders, thanks to research programs like the NIH’s Human Genome Project. He also described anti-VEGF drugs, which are the first treatment to improve vision in some AMD patients, and new imaging devises that reveal minute inner structures of the retina.
Dr. Rein is a research economist who was one of two researchers responsible for calculating the costs associated with age-related eye diseases for the Prevent Blindness America report, The Economic Impact of Vision Problems (2007). He put health care spending for severe vision disorders in perspective, describing how the $51.4 billion spent annually in the U.S. by people age 40 and older exceeds the amounts spent as a result of other common diseases like stroke, breast cancer, and HIV. From his point of view, research dollars should be spent on evaluating which technologies and interventions for vision disorders provide the greatest impact on health and quality of life.
Hyman Shapiro, 80, was diagnosed with AMD in 1988. Despite having severe vision loss, Mr. Shapiro is an active member of his suburban DC community, which he credits with helping him overcome the depression of living with AMD. He believes that the type of commitment that led to curing certain cancers, conquering polio, and managing AIDS will help save the eyesight of the aging population.
The Silver Book®:Vision Loss is available at www.silverbook.org.
