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Published on: February 11, 2014
Prevalence of remediable disability due to low vision among institutionalised elderly people
Leandra J M de Winter1, Carel B Hoyng, Paul G A M Froeling
1Department of Technology Assessment, University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Background:
Prevalence of remediable visual disability among institutionalised elderly people, resulting from inappropriate use or non-use of low-vision aids, is reported to be high, but largely rests on anecdotal evidence.
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence of binocular low vision and underlying eye diseases among institutionalised elderly people in a Dutch urban population and the size of remediable visual disability as the result of inappropriately corrected low vision.
Methods:
The design was a cross-sectional survey of 284 subjects with low vision (corrected binocular vision <0.4) in nursing homes and homes for the elderly in the Netherlands.
Results:
284 of 610 eligible residents were examined. The prevalence of binocular low vision was 31.3%. Among elderly residents with low vision, prevalence of cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy was 77.9, 37.7, 5.2 and 5.2%, respectively. In 32 residents (41.6%), (non)-use of low-vision aids was considered inappropriate. In 50 residents (64.9%), visual disability was considered at least partially remediable, either through better use of low-vision aids, or through cataract extraction. Residents who were not optimally corrected for low vision were significantly more functionally impaired compared with their peers who were optimally corrected.
Conclusion:
Low vision is likely to be highly prevalent among institutionalised elderly. A significant amount of the associated visual disability may be remediable.
