Abstract
ObjectiveNear visual impairment (VI) is a common disability in an aging population. Near vision is crucial in activity of daily living including reading, smartphone and computer use and meal preparation. This study was conducted to determine the association between near visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS) with activity of daily living (ADL) among visually impaired older adults.ResultsA total of 208 participants aged ≥ 60 were recruited from the population-based longitudinal study on neuroprotective model for healthy longevity. Habitual near VA and CS were measured using Lighthouse near VA chart and Pelli-Robson CS chart, respectively. Lawton instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) was used to assess ADL. There are 41.8% participants with near visual impairment and 28.7% among them had IADL disability. Independent t test showed significant lower mean IADL score among visually impaired participants [t(206) = 2.03, p = 0.04]. IADL score significantly correlated with near VA (r = − 0.21, p = 0.05) but not with CS (r = − 0.14, p = 0.21). Near VA (B = − 0.44, p = 0.03) and age (B = − 0.07, p = 0.01) significantly predicted IADL. The findings show poorer VA renders higher IADL disability, which may necessitate interventions to improve ADL among visually impaired older adults.
Highlights
Visual impairment (VI) is a common disability among older adults worldwide and its prevalence increases with advancing age [1]
The prevalence of VI reported was 7.7% in which 64.2% from it was among population aged ≥ 50 and 419 million older adults had near VI due to uncorrected presbyopia [2]
Activity of daily living (ADL) refers to the fundamental skills necessary for daily self-care which further categorized into basic activity of daily living (ADL) (BADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) [9]
Summary
Visual impairment (VI) is a common disability among older adults worldwide and its prevalence increases with advancing age [1]. The prevalence of VI reported was 7.7% in which 64.2% from it was among population aged ≥ 50 and 419 million older adults had near VI due to uncorrected presbyopia [2]. A high prevalence of IADL limitation among Malaysian older adults (42.5–58.1%) was reported but the effect of poor near vision on IADL remain unclear as vision was not assessed [13,14,15]. Evidence on the association between near visual acuity (VA) and CS with IADL among community-dwelling older adults in Malaysia is still lacking. This study was conducted to determine the association between near VA and CS with IADL among visually impaired older adults in Selangor, Malaysia
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