Abstract:
Introduction and objective: Vision impairment is a common problem among the ageing
population. There are a few studies on factors associated with vision impairment and its
effect on day to day living activities of elders. The objective of this study was to describe
the sociodemographic and medical factors related to visual impairment and the
association between vision impairment and daily living activities among elders.
Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study using non-probability sampling was carried
out among 139 elders in the State Elders’ Home Kaithady, from February 2022 to
October 2023. An interviewer-administered questionnaire and a data extraction sheet
were used for data collection. We assessed how activities of daily living (dependent
variable) are affected by visual impairment (independent variable). We measured the
activities of daily living by using the National Eye Institute Visual Function
Questionnaire and the scoring system provided by the National Eye Institute. Vision
impairment was categorized according to the classification of distance vision impairment
for the better eye (by WHO). Chi square test and t test were used to analyze the data. P
value ≤0.05 was considered significant.
Results: More than half of the population had either mild, moderate, or severe vision
impairment. About a third of the elders had normal visual acuity with no vision
impairment (36%), while 5% had blindness. Sociodemographic factors did not show any
statistically significant association. When considering age and educational level, elders
above 80 years (77.3%) and elders who had studied less than O/L (69.6%) had highest
vision impairment. Only about half of the elders had medical records. No medical factors
showed a statistically significant association with visual impairment. Elders with
hypertension (65.5%) and diabetes mellitus (68.2%) had higher vision impairment.
Among the elders without medical records, majority had vision impairment (62.3%).
There were no pronounced differences in mean scores for the 11 scales of the NEI-VFQ
(SL). Eight scales showed statistical significance and association.
Conclusion and recommendations: More than half of the population had vision
impairment. People with advanced age, low educational level and co morbidities such as
diabetes mellitus showed a higher visual impairment. Vision impairment was inversely
associated with activities of daily living.
