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. 2021 Dec;33(10):803-816.
doi: 10.1177/08982643211012839. Epub 2021 May 24.

Do You See What Eye See? Measurement, Correlates, and Functional Associations of Objective and Self-Reported Vision Impairment in Aging South Africans

Meagan T Farrell  1 , Yusheng Jia  2 , Lisa F Berkman  1   2   3 , Ryan G Wagner  4
Affiliations

Do You See What Eye See? Measurement, Correlates, and Functional Associations of Objective and Self-Reported Vision Impairment in Aging South Africans

Meagan T Farrell et al. J Aging Health. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Objectives: Our study investigates measurement, correlates, and functional associations of vision impairment (VI) in an aging population in rural South Africa. Methods: 1582 participants aged 40-69 reported on near (NVI) and distance vision impairment (DVI) and completed objective vision tests. Logistic and linear regression were used to evaluate sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial correlates of VI and assess relationships between VI and cognitive and physical function. Results: VI prevalence was considerably higher according to objective testing (56%) versus self-reports (18%). Older adults were especially likely to underreport impairment. Objective VI was associated with age, education, cardiometabolic disease, and female sex. Conversely, self-reported VI was associated with psychosocial factors. Objective NVI and both types of DVI were associated with worse visual cognition and slower gait speed, respectively. Discussion: Self-reported and objective VI measures should not be used interchangeably in this context. Our findings highlight extensive burden of untreated VI in this region.

Keywords: cognitive function; measurement; physical function; sub-Saharan Africa; vision impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Proposed conceptual model of the relationship between sociodemographic factors, psychosocial/self-report factors, and health factors with self-reported and objective vision. While objective vision acuity will be related to health and sociodemographic factors, self-reported vision will capture more complex dynamics, including bidirectional associations with psychosocial factors and other domains of self-rated health. Cognitive and physical function will be selectively associated with both types of vision measures.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Prevalence of near vision impairment and distance vision impairment according to objective tests versus self-report.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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