Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Feb;35(2):227-244.
doi: 10.1007/s40520-022-02296-5. Epub 2022 Nov 11.

Is the visual impairment a risk factor for frailty in older adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 10-year clinical studies

Matteo Ripa  1   2 , Chiara Schipa  3   4 , Stanislao Rizzo  1   2   5 , Liliana Sollazzi  2   6 , Paola Aceto  2   6
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Is the visual impairment a risk factor for frailty in older adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 10-year clinical studies

Matteo Ripa et al. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Frailty is linked to poor health outcomes later in life. Recent research suggests that visual loss is a possible modifiable risk factor for frailty.

Aims: To analyze the relationship between visual impairment (VI) and frailty and investigate whether it can increase the risk of frailty in older adults.

Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases for relevant studies published between 2012 and 2022 that clearly described VI and frailty measurement methods. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that examined the associations between VI and the existence of frailty in adults aged 65 years or older were synthesized. Meta-analyses were conducted using the measurement of risk and a 95% confidence interval for each study. Quality assessment using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), risk of bias, heterogeneity, and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.

Results: Our search identified 1074 manuscripts published in the English language between 1 January 2012 and 9 June 2022. After studies screening, seventeen articles, including 22,192 participants and 3624 cases of frailty, were selected. A random-effect meta-analysis demonstrated a significant association between visual impairment and the risk of frailty (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.67-2.72). The quality rating of the cross-sectional studies averaged 8.33 (95% CI 7.77-8.89) of the maximum score on the NOS.

Conclusions: Visual impairment increases the risk of frailty in later life and should be accurately assessed in frail older adults.

Keywords: Age-related vision loss; Elderly patients; Frail; Frailty; Poor vision; Visual impairment.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Verbeek E, Drewes Y, Gussekloo J (2022) Visual impairment as a predictor for deterioration in functioning: the Leiden 85-plus Study. BMC Geriatr 22:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12877-022-03071-X/FIGURES/2 - DOI
    1. Varma R, Vajaranant TS, Burkemper B et al (2016) Visual impairment and blindness in adults in the United States: demographic and geographic variations from 2015 to 2050. JAMA Ophthalmol 134:802–809. https://doi.org/10.1001/JAMAOPHTHALMOL.2016.1284 - DOI
    1. Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J et al (2001) Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. https://doi.org/10.1093/GERONA/56.3.M146 - DOI
    1. Aceto P, Bassi P, Sollazzi L et al (2021) Implementation of frailty preoperative assessment to predict outcome in patients undergoing urological surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BJU Int 127:507–517. https://doi.org/10.1111/BJU.15314 - DOI
    1. Aceto P, Perilli V, Luca E et al (2021) Predictive power of modified frailty index score for pulmonary complications after major abdominal surgery in the elderly: a single centre prospective cohort study. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 25:3798–3802. https://doi.org/10.26335/EURREV_202105_25947 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources