Abstract
Objectives
To examine data from Delaware nursing homes to determine prevalence of age-related
eye diseases (AREDs), vision impairment, and blindness and to compare the findings
with the results of 11 US investigations of vision and eye health in nursing homes.
Design
This is a cross-sectional, retrospective study of nursing home patients.
Setting and Participants
Twenty nursing homes in Delaware participated in the study, yielding comprehensive
eye examination records for 2019 study participants.
Methods
Summary statistics and regression analyses.
Results
The overall prevalence of vision impairment or blindness was 63.8% and was above 60%
for each age, sex, and race category. Prevalence of vision impairment or blindness
was 68.4% among patients with cataracts, 69.4% among patients with macular degeneration,
70.5% among patients with glaucoma, and 68.4% among patients with diabetic retinopathy.
Prevalence of blindness was 14.1%. Among patients with AREDs, prevalence of blindness
ranged from 15.0% for patients with cataracts to 22.6% for patients with diabetic
retinopathy. When compared with other investigations, we found wide variation in vision
and eye factors reported and wide variation in the prevalence of those factors. Only
4 studies diagnosed both AREDs and visual function. Seven studies reported AREDs,
and 7 reported vision impairment and/or blindness. Vision impairment or blindness
ranged from 29% to 67%; cataract ranged from 32% to 83%; macular degeneration ranged
from 4.6% to 70.7%. Glaucoma ranged from 5.3% to 41.4%; diabetic retinopathy ranged
from 1.7% to 3.1%.
Conclusions and Implications
Comprehensive eye examinations showed that vision impairment and blindness affected
63.8% of nursing home residents. Compared with other studies, there was a wide range
of vision factors reported and wide variation in the prevalence of vision impairment
or blindness and AREDs. This investigation suggests the importance of eye care in
nursing homes and the importance of reporting standard vision and eye health factors
to inform policy and practice.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 08, 2020
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
