Study examines national estimates of new onset vision impairment in older patients
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SEATTLE — Despite a high prevalence of visual impairment among older patients, some make improvements year-over-year, according to a study.
“This is the first opportunity that we’ve ever had — the first data — to enable us to make national estimates of the incidence that is new onset vision impairment in the United States,” Joshua Ehrlich, MD, MPH, said at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting. “All data to date has been cross-sectional or has been geographically circumscribed, and so not representative of the entire U.S. population.”
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Ehrlich and colleagues investigated 1-year patterns of incident visual impairment using data from 2,538 patients aged 71 years or older in the National Health and Aging Trends Study from 2021 and 2022. They used three binocular visual function measures — distance acuity, near acuity and contrast sensitivity — and tracked the incidence of visual impairment, as well as change in visual functions.
Ehrlich said the prevalence of vision impairment is increasing over time in some older patients, and the 1-year incidence proportion rate was 3.5% for moderate or worse distance visual impairment, 14.3% for near visual impairment and 5.5% for contrast sensitivity impairment. The net prevalence change for vision impairment from 2021 to 2022 was +1.37% for moderate or worse distance vision impairment, +2.09% for near vision impairment and +1.23% for contrast sensitivity impairment.
However, Ehrlich said that the researchers also observed a lot of patients’ vision improve from one year to the next. This improvement was likely due to patients acquiring glasses and undergoing necessary vision-improving procedures such as cataract surgery. The authors wrote that due to the complexity of vision impairment in older patients, optimizing vision later in life is key for maintaining patient quality of life, wellbeing and avoiding vision impairment-associated disability.
“Vision impairment needs to be thought of not just as this monolithic thing where people get worse, but really as this more fluid circumstance where some people are getting better and some are getting worse depending on their medical and social circumstances,” he said.
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Ehrlich JR, et al. Incidence patterns of presenting visual impairment among U.S. older adults. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting; May 5-9, 2024; Seattle.
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