The four main causes of visual impairment are cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. There is effective treatment for cataracts and both glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy can be treated and their progression slowed with early detection. Treatment is not available for most cases of macular degeneration, and by the year 2030, it is expected that macular degeneration will cause more blindness in the U.S. than glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy combined. Glaucoma is twice as common among the black than the white older population and has doubled for African Americans since the 1980s. Age-related macular degeneration is more common in women than in men and in the white than the black older population.
All visual impairments increase with age.
A third of older Americans are hearing impaired. Older men at all ages were more likely than women to be hearing impaired. Older people were less likely to have their hearing tested and use hearing aids than they were to have their eyes checked and wear glasses. More older people are keeping their natural teeth than ever before. However, among those aged 65 years and over there are sharp differences by income, with those in poverty twice as likely as those with higher incomes to have lost all their teeth.