Vision assessment may help identify hospital patients at risk for falls

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Researchers found that vision appears to contribute to falls in hospital patients, and that vision loss is higher among this population, according to a poster presented here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting.

Keeling and colleagues stated in their study that the occurrence of falls among hospital patients is high, costly for hospitals and may be increasing. They evaluated the association between vision loss and falls during hospitalization.

The researchers classified 115 inpatients (average age 67 years) as fallers or non-fallers and evaluated their visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereo acuity, visual field loss, and extinction and neglect.

They found a high prevalence of vision loss in all subjects. More patients in the group of fallers had visual impairment based on visual acuity, low vision based on stereoacuity, and legal blindness based on stereoacuity or the presence or absence of stereoacuity, according to the researchers.

All 10 subjects who fell during their hospital stay had some type of vision loss. All patients who fell, as well as eight who did not, had vision loss at least to the level of visual impairment.

“Vision appears to be a contributing factor to inpatient falls, and prevalence of vision loss is high in the hospital population,” Keeling and colleagues concluded.

They said patient safety and staff awareness may improve if a vision assessment were performed at admission. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO

Reference:

Keeling A, et al. Vision loss and falls among hospital inpatients: A case-control study. Presented at: American Academy of Optometry annual meeting; Anaheim, Calif.; Nov. 8-13, 2016.

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.