Vision Loss Increases Risk for Death, Says Study

“Vision loss can adversely affect the ability of older adults to perform instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), such as using the telephone, shopping and doing housework, which are all measures of an individual's ability to live independently, and that subsequently increases the risk for death,” reports Medical News Today. “Visual impairment (VI) can have negative effects on a person's physical and psychosocial health. VI is associated with a variety of functional and health outcomes. The authors used data from the Salisbury Eye Evaluation study to examine the extent to which visual acuity (VA) loss increased the risk for death because of its effect on functional status over time. The study included 2,520 older adults (65 to 84 years) from September 1993 through July 2003 from the greater Salisbury, Md., area. Study participants were reassessed at 2, 6 and 8 years after baseline.” Read more.