When most people think of an inheritance, they often think of money or sentimental items that are passed down from generation to generation. While material goods can mean a lot, health professionals are encouraging Australians to remember the most important thing that should be passed down through the generations – knowledge of health history.
Increasing evidence shows genetics play a large role in the development of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular diseases and mental health1. If one is aware of their susceptibility to a disease, they may be able to alter their lifestyle to lessen the potential for getting the disease.
While the above ‘big five’ genetic diseases are often widely talked about, what many don’t know is the role of genetics in vision loss, which is expected to emerge as the most prevalent condition among older Australians in future years*.
Specsavers Optometrist, Janet McDonald says most vision threatening diseases including macular degeneration and glaucoma can be hereditary so people with a direct family history have a much higher chance of developing the disease.
One of the most common sightthreatening eye conditions is calledglaucoma. It is estimated that there are currently 300,000 Australians living with it and the risk increases up to 10 times if a family member has the disease. First degree relatives of a person with glaucoma have an almost one in four chance of developing glaucoma in their lifetime, so knowing your family health history is important#.
Recent Specsavers research shows that more than half of Australians over 40 (54%) admit they haven’t had a conversation about their family’s eye health. With an ageing population and most eye conditions occurring after the age of 50, Specsavers is warning that if Australians don’t get serious about their eye health and start taking preventative measures to look after their eyesight, the number of people with vision loss will rise exponentially over the coming years as our population ages.
It's really important for everyone to be aware of their family’s medical history. We tend to know if we have a family history of diabetes or cancer, but we should also know if we have a family history of eye disease… so we would encourage families to have those conversations.
In this day and age we shouldn’t be seeing people unnecessarily losing their vision, but we are because eye health is just not a priority in the same way other health conditions like heart disease and cancer are. There is a worldwide issue with people not understanding the crucial importance of preventive eye care.
Sources:
1 World Health Organisation - https://www.who.int/genomics/public/geneticdiseases/en/index3.html
* Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census Data 2016, available at www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/
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# Glaucoma Australia