The relationship between vision impairment and well-being among centenarians: findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study.

Abstract

The current study evaluated the visual function among centenarians and assessed the relationship between vision, social support, and well-being. This study used the data set of the Georgia Centenarian Study including 106 centenarians (18 men and 88 women). We used scores of the Snellen chart for objective vision and self-reports for subjective vision. Social support, depression, and loneliness were also assessed. Approximately 75% of the centenarians showed some level of objective visual impairment, and 56% of them reported that they had visual impairment. Objective vision impairment was significantly related to depression. Multiple regression analysis revealed that both variables of visual function were significantly associated with depression, but not loneliness. In the model including depression, a significant interaction was obtained for social support and objective vision. Centenarians reported lower level of depression when they had social support. However, centenarians who had low level of visual function tended to report higher depression even if they had social support. These results indicated that vision function was related to centenarians' well-being, especially depression. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.