CHICAGO—Prevent Blindness America ( PBA), a member of the Falls Free Coalition, will join Congress and more than 70 national organizations to declare Sept. 23 as National Falls Prevention Awareness Day "in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of falls and educate the public on what they can do to protect themselves or their loved ones from falls," an announcement said.

One in three Americans over the age of 65 falls every year with many of those seniors suffering major injuries. According to PBA, falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries in that age group. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that $19 billion is spent annually on treating the elderly for the adverse effects of falls including $12 billion for hospitalization, $4 billion for emergency department visits and $3 billion for outpatient care, with most of those expenses paid for by Medicare. The amount is projected to rise to $55 billion annually without dedicated falls prevention efforts, PBA reported.

"By detecting and treating eye disease early, vision loss can be greatly diminished, and therefore, help to decrease the risk of falls," said Hugh R. Parry, PBA's president and CEO.

In addition to other causes, poor vision may increase the risk of falls. In fact, PBA said, the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study showed that those with impaired central vision were at almost three times higher risk for falls with injury than those with no visual impairment. Eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older adults, effect central vision. Seniors who had impaired peripheral vision, a common effect of eye diseases such as glaucoma, were almost 1.5 times at greater risk for falls with injury.

"PBA recommends that all adults learn how to care for the health of their eyes. This includes getting fully dilated eye exams by an eyecare professional, since many people are not aware that they have an eye disease until they notice their vision changing," the organization said in a statement.

For more information contact PBA at (800) 331-2020.