Americans Fear Blindness more than Heart Disease

60% of Americans fear blindness more than heart disease

FYI: Americans Fear Blindness More Than Heart Disease Survey Finds Posted on:Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:01:19 EDT New York, NY, Aug 11, 2010 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) --

Most Americans fear blindness more than getting heart disease, the primary killer of both men and women in the United States, according to the findings of the "Eye on Eyesight" survey. The "Eye on Eyesight" survey confirms that a significant fear exists when it comes to losing one's eyesight, as 60 percent of Americans saythey are more frightened by the prospect of going blind than of gettingheart disease. The survey was conducted by Surge Research Inc. on behalfof Choice Magazine Listening, a nonprofit organization which producesand distributes audio anthologies of magazine articles, stories, and poetry, professionally narrated and free of charge for the visually impaired and physically disabled.

"Many of us take our vision for granted. The thought of losing abilities that are basic to us, including important day-to-day functions like reading, creates tremendous fear," said Sondra Mochson, Editor in Chiefof Choice Magazine Listening. "Although we hope you'll never need our free service, we do fill a crucial need by providing access to entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking literature for people who have difficulty reading due to vision loss or other factors." The survey shows that the fear of losing one's eyesight is nearly double that of getting heart disease (63% vs. 37%) for Americans between ages 50 and 64, a group that is at the highest risk not only for heart disease, but also for conditions that can cause visual disability suchas diabetes and macular degeneration. According to the survey, 79 percent of Americans also say that other than their own death or the death of a loved one, losing one's eyesightis the "worst thing that could happen to me," clearly positioning vision as one of the most important elements of one's life, if not the most important.

"Heart disease awareness campaigns touch almost every American, from educating the public about good and bad cholesterol, proper exercise regimens, and healthy diets, to pharmaceutical companies trying to market their cholesterol or high blood pressure medications," said Andrew Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Surge Research Inc. "For many years the Centers for Disease Control has declared heart disease as the number-one killer in America. Yet despite all this awareness, this survey implies a greater concern with quality of life than with a severe medical condition that kills one person every 34 seconds."

The "Eye on Eyesight" survey was conducted by Surge Research Inc. from July 26 to 28, 2010 using an invitation e-mail and online survey. This survey measured the opinions of 1,050 American adults ages 18-64 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% incidence level.

About Choice Magazine Listening Choice MagazineListening(http://www.choicemagazinelistening.org/) is a free audio anthology fora special audience of blind, visually impaired, physically disabled, ordyslexic subscribers. CML was created in 1962 by the nonprofit LucernaFund to offer the best of contemporary magazine writing, completelywithout charge, to adults unable to read standard print. About Surge Research Inc. Surge Research Inc. (http://www.surgeresearch.com/) isa leading global marketing research firm providing qualitative andquantitative research expertise and capabilities extending across allareas of marketing, communications, advertising and business. SurgeResearch offers multifaceted market research services, including omnibussurveys, public relations surveys, focus groups, competitiveintelligence, customer satisfaction surveys, social media and socialnetworking analysis, employee surveys, in-depth interviews, trackingstudies and advertising research. For more information about the "Eye on Eyesight" survey or ChoiceMagazine Listening, please call Paul Rabin, Public InformationConsultant at Choice Magazine Listening, 516-503-0271 or AndrewEdwards, Chief Executive Officer at Surge Research Inc. at 646-206-9017. ### ____