Functional disability in Thai older persons with self-reported visual impairment

Abstract

This study aims to investigate what causes persons with self-reported visual impairment in Thailand to have different levels of functional disability. The study sample included 6327 older persons aged 60 and above, extracted from the ‘2021 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand’ project. A multinomial logistic model was employed to investigate the relationship between demographic characteristics, living arrangements, and household conditions with the level of functional disability. The study found that gender had only a mild effect on functional disability level, while age had a high influence on every functional disability category. Interestingly, older persons living with their children were more likely to lose their functional ability than those living with other family members. This pattern indicates the dependency of older persons with visual impairment in Thailand on their children. In addition, older persons with self-reported visual impairment with a bedroom on the upper floor and those who had no rails in the house to support their movement were less likely to have a high level of functional disability than other groups of older persons. This may be a strategy for a family to help older persons with visual impairment to be able to perform activities of daily living (ADL) by arranging for them to live in a location in the house that is easy for them to be mobile and perform ADL as recommended in the social model of disability.