Visual impairment associated with increased mortality riskJuly 10, 2007Individuals age 49 and older with cataract and those age 49 to 74 years with age-related macular degeneration appear to have higher mortality rates over an 11-year period than those without such visual impairments, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Several studies have shown associations between visual problems and the risk of death in older individuals, according to background information in the article. "The mechanisms for higher mortality associated with visual impairment remain unclear," the authors write. "It could be attributed to age-related ocular conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) or cataract, which can be markers of biological aging. Alternatively, visual impairment and its related ocular conditions could share a similar pathogenesis with other conditions associated with increased mortality." Sudha Cugati, M.S., of the University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues assessed 3,654 individuals age 49 and older who were part of the Blue Mountains Eye Study, an ongoing examination of visual disorders in the Blue Mountains area west of Sydney. When the participants enrolled in the study, between 1992 and 1994, they were assessed for overall visual impairment and its two main causes: cataract, a disease in which the eye's lens is covered by a film that reduces sight, and ARMD, which occurs when the macula, the area at the back of the retina that produces the sharpest vision, deteriorates over time. By Dec. 31, 2003-an average of 11 years of follow-up-1,051 participants (28.9 percent) died. Rates of death were higher among those with any visual impairment than among those without (54 percent vs. 34 percent), among those with ARMD than those without (45.8 percent vs. 33.7 percent) and among those with cataract than those without (39.2 percent vs. 29.5 percent). "After adjusting for factors that predict mortality, neither visual impairment nor ARMD was significantly associated with all-cause mortality in all ages," the authors write. "Among persons younger than 75 years, however, ARMD predicted higher all-cause mortality." Among participants of all ages, having cataract also was associated with a higher risk of death from any cause. It remains unclear whether there is a direct or indirect link between visual impairment and death or if another factor not measured in this study affected the results, the authors note. "The implications of these findings also remain uncertain: whether such an association indicates that visual impairment, age-related eye disease or both are markers of aging and frailty or whether these ocular conditions accelerate aging, thus leading to relatively earlier death in older persons," they conclude. "If a direct or indirect causal effect from visual impairment on earlier death is confirmed, regular assessment of vision in older persons may lead to early detection, facilitating treatments that could reduce the impact of visual impairment." JAMA and Archives Journals |
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| Related Visual Impairment Current Events and Visual Impairment News Articles Sight gone, but not necessarily lost? Like all tissues in the body, the eye needs a healthy blood supply to function properly. Poorly developed blood vessels can lead to visual impairment or even blindness. Noncorrectable vision problems associated with shorter lifespan in older adults Visual problems that cannot be corrected are associated with increased risk of death among individuals between the ages of 49 and 74, and all visual impairments may be associated with the risk of death in older adults. More infants surviving pre-term births results in higher rates of eye problems As more extremely pre-term infants survive in Sweden, an increasing number of babies are experiencing vision problems caused by abnormalities involving the retina. Study predicts 40 percent increase in blindness in Nigeria by 2020 By 2020, 1.4 million Nigerians over age 40 will lose their sight, and the vast majority of the causes are either preventable or treatable, according to the Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Study Group. South Asians with diabetes more likely to lose their eyesight earlier than White Europeans South Asians with type 2 diabetes are significantly more at risk of losing their eyesight and losing it at an earlier age, compared to White Europeans with the same condition. Researchers describe protease inhibitor that may aid in diabetic retinopathy treatment Researchers from Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, and ActiveSite Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San Francisco, announced today that they have demonstrated that a specific inhibitor of the protease plasma kallikrein, ASP-440, developed by ActiveSite Pharmaceuticals, may provide a new therapeutic approach for treatment of diabetic retinopathy, the most common eye-related complication of diabetes. Conference report highlights new research into drug delivery to treat eye disease Researchers are investigating microneedles, nanoparticles and polymer carriers as potential new techniques to combat the leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in the United States, according to a report from the Third Annual ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmics Research Institute Conference. Vision loss more common in people with diabetes Visual impairment appears to be more common in people with diabetes than in those without the disease, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Role identified for glaucoma gene and related signaling pathway Researchers have found that a gene and a related signaling pathway play a role in the development of glaucoma, which is a common cause of visual impairment and blindness worldwide. USC study -- largest of its kind -- finds older children more likely to develop vision disorders In a study of more than 6,000 Los Angeles-area children - the largest study of its kind - researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found that both strabismus (commonly known as cross-eyed or wall-eyed) and amblyopia (often referred to as lazy eye) were more prevalent in older children than in younger children. More Visual Impairment Current Events and Visual Impairment News Articles |
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