MODELLING THE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFICULTY IN SEEING (VISION LOSS) AMONG THE AGEING POPULATION OF GHANA USING ORDINAL LOGISTIC REGRESSION TO WHO’S GLOBAL AGEING AND ADULT HEALTH (SAGE) GHANA DATAWAVE 1

Abstract

Introduction: The study modeled the factors associated with difficulty in seeing (vision loss) among the aged population of Ghana using the WHO study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) Ghana Wave-1 data. Methods: The sampled data consisted of 4223 participants aged 50 years and above. The respondents were asked to indicate their difficulty seeing things in the last 30 days. The study grouped the responses into three (none, moderate and severe) and analyzed them using the proportional odds model of the ordinal logistic regression. Results: we found that more than half (66%) of the aged population of Ghana have some difficulty seeing. The females were more susceptible to experiencing difficulty in seeing (51.8% against 48.2%), with odds exceeding that of males by more than 43%. We also found a significant association between difficulty in seeing and the variables (age, sex, problem with remembering, depression, cataracts, and tobacco intake) using the Pearson chisquare Again, we discovered that those with some memory problems tend to have difficulty seeing. Also, the log odds of severe difficulty in seeing was 1.044 higher on average for those 70 years and above than those below 60 years. Conclusion: the ordinal logistic regression model found age, sex, a problem with remembering, depression, tobacco intake, cataracts, SBP, and heart rate as significantly linked with difficulty in seeing among the aged population of Ghana at ( p <.001).