• Data on the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in multiracial urban populations
of the United States are not readily available. The Baltimore Eye Survey was designed to
address this lack of information and provide estimates of prevalence in age-race subgroups
that had not been well studied in the past. A population-based sample of 5300 blacks and
whites from east Baltimore, Md, received an ophthalmologic screening examination that
included detailed visual acuity measurements. Blacks had, on average, a twofold excess …

To the Editor.—I congratulate Dr Tielsch and coworkers in the Baltimore Eye Survey
Research Group 1 for their article in the February 1990 issue of theArchivesI hope that in the
tremendous amount of data that they accumulated about the population they investigated,
they secured information on income. It would be unfortunate if they did not. As is well known,
income is directly related to accessibility to medical care. In the people whose blindness is
preventable, accessibility to medical care is a key factor. It would be most interesting and …