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The Silver Book® on Vision Loss

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The European Vision Institute (EVI) is pleased that AEVR has partnered with the Alliance for Aging Research (AAR) to produce the extraordinary Silver Book®: Vision Loss Volume II . It is being released as a resource of AEVR's Decade of Vision 2010-2020 Initiative (DOV), a sustained educational program on the benefits of federally funded vision research that saves and restores vision, thereby reducing healthcare costs, maintaining independence, and improving quality of life. The EVI is fully supporting this excellent initiative, which updates the initial 2007 edition.

This updated volume brings together important information on the burden of vision loss and the promise of research. The focus is on the incidence and costs of AMD, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Cataract, the fourth of the major aging eye diseases, is not included since it is now routinely treated through outpatient surgery that is proven to restore lost vision, be cost-effective, and have one of the most beneficial impacts on quality of life of all treatments reimbursed by public or private insurance. Also, the cost/benefit data are still scarce regarding approved ophthalmic drugs to treat AMD - also being studied to treat diabetic macular edema and retinopathy - although data on the clinical benefit is substantial. However, almost daily, vision researchers are announcing dramatic advances to benefit patients.

First launched in 2006, AAR's series of Silver Books® on a various age-related diseases facilitate policymakers' discussions about healthcare delivery and research spending priorities, especially important as the United States faces a "Silver Tsunami" of 10,000 citizens a day turning age 65 between 2011 and 2029 and the European Union is facing the same challenge.

Table of Content of
the Silver Book on Vision Loss II

  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Cost of Vision Loss
    • Prevalence and Incidence of Vision Loss
      • Vision Loss
      • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
      • Diabetic Retinopathy
      • Glaucoma
    • Age—A Major Risk Factor
      • Vision Loss
      • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
      • Diabetic Retinopathy
      • Glaucoma
    • The Burden of Vision Loss
      • The Human Burden
        • Vision Loss
        • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
        • Diabetic Retinopathy
        • Glaucoma
      • The Economic Burden
        • Vision Loss
        • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
        • Diabetic Retinopathy
        • Glaucoma
    • The Future Cost of Vision Loss
      • Vision Loss
      • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
      • Diabetic Retinopathy
      • Glaucoma
  • Innovative Medical Research
    • The Human and Economic Value
      • Vision Loss
      • Age-Related Macular Degeneration
      • Diabetic Retinopathy
      • Glaucoma
    • The Future Value
  • Conclusion
  • References

Further Information

Decade of Vision 2010-2020

Logo Decade of Vision 2010-2020

The European Vision Institute (EVI) is supporting the decade of vision.

AEVR Releases Updated Silver Book®:Vision Loss at 2012 World Glaucoma Week Congressional Briefing

On March 7, AEVR joined with the Alliance for Aging Research (AAR) and the glaucoma community in releasing The Silver Book®: Vision Loss Volume II during the 2012 World Glaucoma Week Congressional Briefing entitled Glaucoma: Blindness Incidence and Progress Towards Individualized Treatments.

Clinician-scientist Arthur Sit, S.M., M.D., an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic, spoke about the impact of glaucoma, the second leading cause of preventable vision loss in the United States, affecting 2.2 million individuals. He described glaucoma as a group of complex neurodegenerative diseases that affect the optic nerve, initially robbing patients of their peripheral vision and eventually leading to central vision loss and irreversible blindness. Patient advocate Jerry Duvall, a telecommunications economist, described what it is like to live with glaucoma.

Learn more: www.eyeresearch.org/naevr_action/world_glaucoma_week_2012.html