TY - JOUR
T1 - Vision Impairment and Cognitive Outcomes in Older Adults
T2 - The Health ABC Study
AU - Swenor, Bonnielin K.
AU - Wang, Jiangxia
AU - Varadaraj, Varshini
AU - Rosano, Caterina
AU - Yaffe, Kristine
AU - Albert, Marilyn
AU - Simonsick, Eleanor M.
AU - Magaziner, Jay
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Intramural Research Program of the NIA, and NIA K01AG052640); Dr. Jane Kroger fund; and Wilmer Biostatistics Center Grant (NEI EY01765).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/8/16
Y1 - 2019/8/16
N2 - Background: An association between visual impairment and cognitive outcomes has been documented, but there is limited research examining this relationship using multiple measures of vision. Methods: Participants included non-demented individuals in Year 3 of the Visual impairment was assessed using visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity. Cognitive function was defined using the digit symbol test and the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS). Incident cognitive impairment was defined as a 3MS score <80 or a decline >5 points following Year 3. Linear mixed effects models examined longitudinal associations adjusting for year, age, sex, race, education, smoking, depression, diabetes, study site, as well as interaction terms between the vision parameters and years in study, between baseline age and years in study, and quadratic terms of baseline age and years in study. Discrete Cox regression models examined the risk of incident cognitive impairment. Results: Analyses included 2,444 participants (mean age = 74). Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments were not associated with statistically significant changes in annual digit symbol test scores over 7 years of follow-up, as compared to those without these impairments. However, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments were associated with greater declines in annual 3MS scores over 9 years. Participants with impaired visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity had a greater risk of incident cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Our results suggest that visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments may be risk factors for cognitive decline.
AB - Background: An association between visual impairment and cognitive outcomes has been documented, but there is limited research examining this relationship using multiple measures of vision. Methods: Participants included non-demented individuals in Year 3 of the Visual impairment was assessed using visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity. Cognitive function was defined using the digit symbol test and the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS). Incident cognitive impairment was defined as a 3MS score <80 or a decline >5 points following Year 3. Linear mixed effects models examined longitudinal associations adjusting for year, age, sex, race, education, smoking, depression, diabetes, study site, as well as interaction terms between the vision parameters and years in study, between baseline age and years in study, and quadratic terms of baseline age and years in study. Discrete Cox regression models examined the risk of incident cognitive impairment. Results: Analyses included 2,444 participants (mean age = 74). Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments were not associated with statistically significant changes in annual digit symbol test scores over 7 years of follow-up, as compared to those without these impairments. However, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments were associated with greater declines in annual 3MS scores over 9 years. Participants with impaired visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity had a greater risk of incident cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Our results suggest that visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity impairments may be risk factors for cognitive decline.
KW - Brain aging
KW - Cognition
KW - Cognitive aging
KW - Visual impairment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072056472&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85072056472&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/gerona/gly244
DO - 10.1093/gerona/gly244
M3 - Article
C2 - 30358809
AN - SCOPUS:85072056472
SN - 1079-5006
VL - 74
SP - 1454
EP - 1460
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
IS - 9
ER -