Older Adults Appear to Have Shorter Lifespan When
Facing Chronic Vision Problems
Impact of visual impairment on mortality may in
fact be greater than that reported from previous studies
Oct. 13, 2009 - Visual problems that cannot be
corrected are associated with increased risk of death among individuals
between the ages of 49 and 74, and all visual impairments may be
associated with the risk of death in older adults, according to a report
in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
Visual impairment has been associated with a higher
risk of death as well as factors that may lead to increased death such
as unintentional injury, depression, lower body mass index (BMI),
reduced walking speeds, increased risk of falls, self-reported
difficulty in physical activity, cardiovascular disease, dementia and
cancer, according to background information in the article.
"Correction for these 'confounders' has been found
to attenuate the association between visual impairment and mortality,
but the mechanisms behind the association between visual impairment and
mortality remain to be determined."
Michael J. Karpa, M.B.B.S., B.Sc., of Westmead
Millennium Institute, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues used data from
the Blue Mountains Eye Study, which examined visual impairment in 3,654
participants age 49 and older between 1992 and 1994 and after five and
ten years, to evaluate the relationship between visual impairment and
death risk among older individuals.
At baseline, participants with non-correctable
visual impairment were more likely to be female, age 75 and older and
underweight.
Those with correctable visual impairment were more
likely to be age 75 and older, but had no difference in proportions of
women or BMI.
Thirteen years after baseline, 1,273 participants
had died.
A higher risk of dying was associated with
noncorrectable visual impairment, with a stronger association for
participants younger than age 75.
The analyses "revealed greater effects of
noncorrectable visual impairment on mortality risk, with both direct and
indirect effects," the authors write.
"Of mortality risk markers examined, only
disability in walking demonstrated a significant indirect pathway for
the link between visual impairment and mortality."
"In conclusion, this study reaffirms that visual
impairment is associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality,"
the authors write.
"Disability in walking may represent an important
indirect pathway to mortality for persons with visual impairment, and
adjusting for this factor in statistical analysis may overadjust for the
indirect effect of visual impairment on mortality risk.
The impact of visual impairment on mortality may
in fact be greater than that reported from previous studies that have
used traditional statistical models."
Editor's Note: The Blue Mountains Eye Study was
supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia)
grants.
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Oct. 13, 2009 - Visual problems that cannot be
corrected are associated with increased risk of death among individuals
between the ages of 49 and 74, and all visual impairments may be
associated with the risk of death in older adults, according to a report
in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.