Most GPS approaches count down 5,4,3,2,1,FF,5,4,3,2,1,MAP. In the heat of the moment, on a dark ****ty night, it would be very easy to look at the wrong No. 5 or 4 or 3 etc and attempt to fly the profile 5 miles low with disastrous results.
I also have difficulty reading these and find it confusing where I am. Granted I'm using a crappy centuries old GPS hand flying but none the less it can be misread.
Also the numbers count backwards depending which way along the page it's written. Eg if the final profile is drawn right-left the numbers will try to match the profile. Can be confusing if not familiar with which way they go.
I think it should definitely be published as 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 however probably too hard to change GPS's which only provide distance to next WP and don't show dist to threshold.