Economic impact of Eye Care

1. Eye Care: Dollars and Sense Taylor HR. Am J Ophthalmol 2007; 143:1-8. Journal Club Terry J. Alexandrou, MD Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science University of Chicago

5. Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss Amount of vision loss and eye disease increases dramatically with increasing age (2004)

6. Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss Prevalence of blindness (≤20/200 in better eye) Prevalence of low vision (<20/40 in better eye)

7. Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss (US in 1909) Ophthalmia neonatum and injury were leading causes of blindness 100 years ago, when life expectancy was ~40 years

8. Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss Australia in 2004 Age > 40 Causes of blindness (≤20/200) Causes of visual impairment (<20/40)

10. Costs of Vision Loss Australia Vision loss is the 7 th leading cause of disability in Australia Causes nearly 3% of the national total of years of life lost attributable to disability

11. Costs of Vision Loss (2006) Vision loss ranks as the 6 th most important cause of disability worldwide

12. Costs of Vision Loss Australia(2004) Total cost of vision loss was ~10 billion Indirect costs - ~3.2 billion ● loss of earnings ● cost of caregivers ● additional age care Loss of well-being - ~4.8 billion Lost income - ~1.8 billion Direct costs - ~1.9 billion ● hospital care ● outpatient and office visits ● optometry costs ● medications

13. Costs of Vision Loss Direct Health Costs for vision disorders ranks 7 th in Australian rankings Cataract surgery is the single largest condition cost 180,000 cataract surgeries performed in Australia in 2005

16. Costs of Vision Loss Australia could save 5 dollars for each dollar spent