Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
Volume 74, Issue 9, Pages 1454-1460Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/gly244
Keywords
Cognition; Cognitive aging; Brain aging; Visual impairment
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health (Intramural Research Program of the NIA)
- National Institutes of Health [NIA K01AG052640]
- Dr. Jane Kroger fund
- Wilmer Biostatistics Center Grant [NEI EY01765]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
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.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available