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Vision loss associated with decreased cognitive function
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Visual impairment was significantly associated with worse cognitive function and senile dementia in a study based on two nationally representative samples of the U.S. population.
Data were extrapolated for analysis from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a program that collects a large amount of data on health and nutrition among U.S. citizens, and from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), which provides specific data on cognitive function and subjective visual function.
In both datasets, subjects were aged 60 years or older.
Poor visual function, both objectively assessed and subjectively reported, was associated with poorer cognitive function. After controlling for potential confounders, objectively measured visual impairment (VI) at distance and near was associated with a decrease of 5.1 and 3.8 points, respectively, in the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) score in NHANES. Self-reported VI was associated with a 5.3-point decrease in DSST.
In NHATS, self-reported VI was associated with a 1.9- to 2.6-fold increased odds of dementia.
These findings are “timely and relevant to an aging society,” the authors wrote, and highlight the importance of timely detection of visual impairment in the elderly population.
“Our results support last year’s recommendations by the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to make eye health a population health imperative, with vision screenings, epidemiology- and population-based research, and public health infrastructure to improve eye health awareness and access to care,” the authors concluded. – by Michela Cimberle
Disclosure: Chen reported no conflict of interest. Please see the study for the other authors’ financial disclosures.
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