Cataracts

Cataracts Defined

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. Most cataracts are related to aging. Cataracts are very common in older people.

2010 U.S. age-specific prevalence rates for Cataract by age, gender, and race/ethnicity

Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	2.59%	2.30%	2.37%	2.40%	2.51%
50-54	5.01%	5.99%	5.52%	5.59%	5.22%
55-59	8.84%	10.37%	9.63%	9.73%	9.14%
60-64	15.28%	16.19%	15.84%	15.88%	15.45%
65-69	24.95%	23.55%	24.27%	24.25%	24.73%
70-74	37.41%	31.68%	34.39%	34.17%	36.49%
75-79	51.09%	40.13%	45.16%	45.06%	49.49%
80+	70.38%	53.48%	60.66%	60.86%	68.30%
TOTAL	18.79%	12.99%	11.82%	13.32%	17.11%

Female/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	2.14%	2.65%	2.32%	2.36%	2.25%
50-54	5.04%	7.30%	6.19%	6.22%	5.52%
55-59	9.44%	12.75%	11.16%	11.19%	10.09%
60-64	16.73%	19.81%	18.52%	18.45%	17.30%
65-69	27.39%	28.32%	28.10%	28.11%	27.58%
70-74	40.58%	37.22%	39.10%	39.06%	40.06%
75-79	54.36%	45.82%	50.17%	50.17%	53.09%
80+	73.05%	58.48%	65.22%	65.35%	71.24%
TOTAL	21.33%	16.26%	14.23%	15.48%	19.67%

Male/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	3.05%	1.92%	2.41%	2.44%	2.77%
50-54	4.97%	4.50%	4.83%	4.86%	4.90%
55-59	8.22%	7.55%	7.99%	8.01%	8.12%
60-64	13.75%	11.76%	12.83%	12.82%	13.45%
65-69	22.28%	17.33%	19.63%	19.68%	21.53%
70-74	33.75%	23.90%	28.31%	28.27%	32.27%
75-79	46.97%	31.06%	38.17%	38.10%	44.81%
80+	65.74%	42.56%	53.09%	53.52%	63.14%
TOTAL	16.00%	8.99%	9.26%	10.78%	14.26%

Prevalence of Cataracts by Race 2010

	All	White	Black	Hispanic	Other
Prevalence	0.171	0.188	0.130	0.118	0.133

2010 U.S. Prevalent Cases of Vision Impairment (in thousands) by age, and race/ethnicity (Cataract)

Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	741	124	153	77	1,095
50-54	791	158	135	80	1,164
55-59	1,278	224	177	117	1,796
60-64	1,959	268	218	154	2,599
65-69	2,415	269	230	161	3,075
70-74	2,715	265	241	165	3,386
75-79	2,994	242	230	154	3,620
80+	6,620	424	377	252	7,673
TOTAL	19,513	1,974	1,761	1,160	24,408

2010 U.S. Prevalent Cases of Cataract (in thousands) by gender.

Female/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	306	75	74	40	495
50-54	402	102	76	47	627
55-59	695	149	106	73	1,023
60-64	1,100	180	135	97	1,512
65-69	1,385	183	146	101	1,815
70-74	1,577	182	154	103	2,016
75-79	1,777	170	149	99	2,195
80+	4,356	318	253	168	5,095
TOTAL	11,598	1,359	1,093	728	14,778

Male/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	435	49	79	37	600
50-54	389	56	59	33	537
55-59	583	75	71	44	773
60-64	859	88	83	57	1,087
65-69	1,030	86	84	60	1,260
70-74	1,138	83	87	62	1,370
75-79	1,217	72	81	55	1,425
80+	2,264	106	124	84	2,578
TOTAL	7,915	615	668	432	9,630

Chart Projections 2010 (Cataracts)

Year	All	White	Black	Hispanic	Other
2010	24,409,978	19,514,896	1,973,883	1,761,306	1,159,893
2030	38,737,561	27,866,836	3,428,470	4,745,378	2,696,878
2050	50,231,932	30,781,670	4,966,939	9,510,635	4,972,687

Chart Projections 2010 (Cataracts)

Total Population	142,648,393	103,846,437	15,190,777	14,901,369	8,709,810

Chart Projections 2010 (Cataracts)

Year	Value	Short Value
2000	20,476,040	20,476
2010	24,409,978	24,410

2000 U.S. Prevalent Cases of Cataracts Chart

Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	785	107	95	60	1,047
50-54	669	105	75	53	902
55-59	929	134	92	66	1,221
60-64	1,303	172	120	84	1,679
65-69	1,929	206	146	101	2,382
70-74	2,760	231	164	114	3,269
75-79	3,230	218	147	108	3,703
80+	5,572	350	202	147	6,271
TOTAL	17,177	1,523	1,041	733	20,474

2000 U.S. Prevalent Cases of Cataract (in thousands) by gender.

Female/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	320	65	46	31	462
50-54	340	69	43	31	483
55-59	507	90	56	40	693
60-64	740	117	75	52	984
65-69	1,125	142	93	65	1,425
70-74	1,654	162	106	74	1,996
75-79	2,010	155	96	69	2,330
80+	3,849	265	139	97	4,350
TOTAL	10,545	1,065	654	459	12,723

Male/Age	White	Black	Hispanic	Other	All
40-49	465	42	49	29	585
50-54	329	36	32	22	419
55-59	422	44	36	26	528
60-64	563	55	45	32	695
65-69	804	64	53	36	957
70-74	1,106	69	58	40	1,273
75-79	1,220	63	51	39	1,373
80+	1,723	85	63	50	1,921
TOTAL	6,632	458	387	274	7,751