Takeaway
- Older adults with vision impairment were at increased risk for dementia cross-sectionally across all ages (age, ≥50 years) and were at greater risk for incident dementia longitudinally (age, <70 years only).
Why this matters
- Findings suggest that cognitive decline may be associated with vision problems in individuals aged 50-69 years and that improvement in vision could help delay neural degeneration.
Study design
- Retrospective study of 7685 participants was performed using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
- Participants were divided into normal (n=3626), moderate (2978) and poor (1081) self-rated vision groups.
- Funding: UK Economic and Social Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research.
Key results
- In a cross-sectional analysis, participants with moderate vision (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.36-3.07; P<.001) and poor vision (OR, 4.02; 95% CI, 2.64-6.13; P<.001) had a higher risk for dementia across all ages vs participants with normal vision after adjustment for confounders.
- In a longitudinal analysis, young participants with moderate (HR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.04-3.04) and poor vision (HR, 3.60; 95% CI, 1.10-11.78) were at greater risk of developing dementia vs participants with normal vision.
- There was no significant difference in the risk for dementia in older adults aged ≥70 years.
Limitations
- Limited dementia cases.
References
References