Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of vision loss, affecting about 3 million people in the United States.1 But this potentially blinding eye disease does not affect all people equally. During Glaucoma Awareness Month in January, Eye Associates of South Texas and the American Academy of Ophthalmology is urging people to be screened, especially if you are at increased risk of glaucoma.
Who is at risk?
- African Americans are 6 to 8 times more likely to get glaucoma than white Americans. Blindness from glaucoma is 6 to 8 times more common in African Americans than white Americans.2
- People with diabetes are 2 times more likely to get glaucoma than people without diabetes.2
- Hispanic Americans face an increased risk comparable to African Americans, but the disease may also progress faster as they age, compared with other ethnic groups.3
- Asians are at an increased risk for the less common types of glaucoma: angle-closure glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma.2
- Also at risk are people over age 40, those who are severely nearsighted, and those who have a family history of glaucoma.
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