World Sight Day was October 13, 2011, and AMDAI marked it with participation in a Washington, DC, Congressional briefing held by the Alliance for Eye and Vision research (AEVR) to recognize the cost-effectiveness that would result from preventing vision impairment and blindness.
Research and experience tell us that preserving vision helps assure a person’s productivity. It also helps maintain quality of life and reduces financial costs to individuals, families, and entire nations.
Introducing the AEVR briefing were Jeff Todd, senior vice-president and chief operating officer of AMDAI member organization Prevent Blindness America (PBA), and Louis Pizzarello, M.D., chairman of Vision 2020/USA and immediate-past Secretary General of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. The event’s featured speaker was Johns Hopkins health economist Kevin Frick, Ph.D., whose work was behind a 2007 PBA paper revealing a $35.4 billion burden to the U.S. economy primarily from four vision disorders: AMD, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma (1).
He broke the analysis down to the personal level. “On an individual level,” said Dr. Frick, “a visually-impaired person in the U.S. who is 40 or older spends $1244 more on medical costs annually than an otherwise similar sighted person. For someone who is blind, the additional cost would be twice the amount. With over 1 million cases of blindness and 2.6 million cases of visual impairment in the U.S. among this age group, the additional cost of medical care is a staggering $5.9 billion.” And this calculation doesn’t even include the cost of lost productivity by neighbors, friends, or family who take time from work to help when needed.
A challenge for the research community is to evaluate ways to avoid visual impairment that will provide combined effectiveness and cost savings. One intervention where benefits are unequivocal worldwide is cataract surgery. Low vision therapy also appears to be effective (and, therefore, cost saving,), according to LOVIT study findings (2). As for AMD therapies, some appear to be cost-effective. The benefits are mainly related to quality and length of life.
In other words, says Dr. Frick, “Vision impairment and blindness, from AMD and other disorders, make a big impact on medical care costs and other resources. At the least, interventions to prevent vision impairment and blindness may preserve quality of life and functioning. Society, family, and individuals should also be pleased with the strong likelihood of cost-effectiveness.”
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1. The Economic Impact of Vision Problems: The Toll of Major Adult Eye Disorders, Visual Impairment and Blindness on the U.S. Economy, Prevent Blindness America, 2007.
2. LOVIT Study Group. Outcomes of the Veterans Affairs Low Vision Intervention Trial (LOVIT). Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126:608-17.
