Visual Impairment and Objectively Measured Physical Activity in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Abstract

Vision loss is associated with restricted physical activity (PA), yet the relationship between multiple domains of vision measures and objectively measured PA, especially activity patterns, in mid-to-late life remains unclear. In 603 BLSA participants (mean age=73.5±11 years; 56% women; 69% white), best-corrected and presenting visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity, visual fields (VF), stereo acuity were assessed from 2015 to 2019. Free-living PA was assessed using a wrist-worn ActiGraph accelerometer for 7 days. Linear regression models showed that participants with vs. without best-corrected VA impairment had 29.3 fewer active minutes/day (p=0.03) and trended towards fewer activity counts (p=0.05), adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics. VF impairment was associated with 268,636 fewer activity counts (p=0.02), 46.2 fewer active minutes/day (p=0.02), and a 3% greater activity fragmentation (p=0.009). Older adults with visual impairment have restricted and more fragmented activity patterns. Longitudinal studies are warranted to examine causality between visual impairment and PA decline.