Centre for Eye Research Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2010 Apr;248(4):527-33. doi: 10.1007/s00417-009-1260-x.
Falls are an alarming health problem and a major cause of injury among the elderly. The healthcare cost associated with falls is considerable. Visual acuity has been found to be an independent risk factor for falls; however, the results are not unanimous. Moreover, other aspects of visual function such as visual field, contrast sensitivity and depth perception have not been adequately investigated in relation to falls. The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine the relationship between visual function, duration, and main causes of visual impairment, and falls in individuals with low vision.
This was a cross-sectional study involving participants attending a public tertiary eye care hospital. Participants were mobile, aged 60 years or above, and had low vision (visual acuity >0.3 LogMAR in the better eye). Details about falls in the previous 12 months and other information were collected, and patients completed a questionnaire about activities of daily living. The duration and main causes of visual impairment, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, depth perception, and visual field were assessed. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed to characterize the participants' sociodemographic and clinical data.
One hundred and twenty seven patients (53%; 67 males) with a mean age of 76.3+/-8.3 years were recruited. Thirty seven percent of the participants (n=47) had mild, 50% (n=64) moderate and 13% (n=16) severe visual impairment (>0.3-0.5; >0.5-1.0; and >1.0 LogMAR respectively). The frequencies of single and multiple falls were 42.5% and 12.6% respectively. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, depth perception, visual field, main cause, and duration of visual impairment were not significantly associated with falls (p>0.05). In multiple regression analyses, physical inactivity remained the only variable independently associated with falls in all models except for visual field. Overall, visually impaired people were three times more likely to fall if they were physically inactive.
Visual function, duration and main causes of visual impairment are not independently associated with falls in people with low vision. However, a significant relationship between non-participation in physical activity and falls was found. Further work is required to investigate the association between vision-related factors and falls in older people with visual impairment.
跌倒对于老年人来说是一个令人担忧的健康问题，也是导致受伤的主要原因之一。与跌倒相关的医疗保健费用相当可观。已经发现视力是跌倒的一个独立危险因素；然而，结果并不一致。此外，视觉功能的其他方面，如视野、对比敏感度和深度知觉，与跌倒的关系尚未得到充分研究。因此，本研究的目的是确定视力、持续时间和导致视力障碍的主要原因与低视力个体跌倒之间的关系。
这是一项横断面研究，涉及在一家公立三级眼科医院就诊的患者。参与者行动自如，年龄在 60 岁及以上，且存在低视力（较好眼的视力 >0.3 LogMAR）。收集了过去 12 个月内跌倒的详细信息和其他信息，患者完成了一份关于日常生活活动的问卷。评估了视力障碍的持续时间和主要原因、视力、对比敏感度、深度知觉和视野。进行了描述性统计分析以描述参与者的社会人口统计学和临床数据。
共招募了 127 名患者（53%；67 名男性），平均年龄为 76.3+/-8.3 岁。37%的参与者（n=47）有轻度视力障碍，50%（n=64）有中度视力障碍，13%（n=16）有严重视力障碍（>0.3-0.5；>0.5-1.0；>1.0 LogMAR）。单次和多次跌倒的频率分别为 42.5%和 12.6%。视力、对比敏感度、深度知觉、视野、主要原因和视力障碍持续时间与跌倒无显著相关性（p>0.05）。在多元回归分析中，除了视野外，不参加体育活动仍然是所有模型中与跌倒独立相关的唯一变量。总体而言，如果低视力者不参加体育活动，他们跌倒的可能性是其他人的三倍。
低视力人群的视力功能、持续时间和导致视力障碍的主要原因与跌倒无关。然而，发现不参加体育活动与跌倒之间存在显著关系。需要进一步研究与视力相关的因素与视力障碍老年人跌倒之间的关系。
