Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The British Journal of Ophthalmology logoLink to The British Journal of Ophthalmology
. 1997 Jul;81(7):574–577. doi: 10.1136/bjo.81.7.574

Visual impairment and socioeconomic factors

P Livingston 1, C McCarty 1, H Taylor 1
PMCID: PMC1722263  PMID: 9290372

Abstract

BACKGROUND—Information about socio economic factors associated with visual impairment can assist in the design of intervention programmes. Such information was collected by the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project (Melbourne VIP).
METHODS—The Melbourne VIP was a population based study of non-institutionalised permanent residents in nine suburbs of the Melbourne metropolitan area aged 40 years of age and older. A standardised eye examination was provided to eligible residents which included a structured interview. Variables of interest for this analysis were age, sex, country of birth, language spoken at home, education level, use of private health insurance, employment status, and living arrangements. Visual impairment was defined as a best corrected visual acuity <6/18 and/or visual field constriction to within 20° of fixation
RESULTS—A total of 3271 (83%) residents participated. Participants ranged in age from 40 to 98 years; 54% were female. Forty four (1.34%) were classified as visually impaired due to visual acuity and/or visual field loss. To evaluate the independent association of the significant sociodemographic variables with visual impairment, a regression model was constructed that included age, retirement status, use of private health insurance, and household arrangement. The results showed that age was the significant predictor of visual impairment (OR: 3.19; CI: 2.29-4.43), with the mean age of people with visual impairment significantly older (75.0 years) compared with people without visual impairment (58.2 years) (t test=9.71; p=0.0001). Of the 44 visually impaired people, 39 (87%) were aged 60 years of age and older.
CONCLUSION—The results indicate that age is the most significant factor associated with visual impairment. Of some importance was the finding that people with visual impairment were less likely to have private health insurance. With the aging of the population, the number of people affected by visual impairment will increase significantly. Intervention programmes need to be established before the onset of middle age to offset the escalation of visual impairment in the older population.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (118.1 KB).

Figure 1  .

Figure 1  

Open in a new tab

Visual impairment by median household income.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Attebo K., Mitchell P., Smith W. Visual acuity and the causes of visual loss in Australia. The Blue Mountains Eye Study. Ophthalmology. 1996 Mar;103(3):357–364. doi: 10.1016/s0161-6420(96)30684-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dana M. R., Tielsch J. M., Enger C., Joyce E., Santoli J. M., Taylor H. R. Visual impairment in a rural Appalachian community. Prevalence and causes. JAMA. 1990 Nov 14;264(18):2400–2405. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Klein R., Klein B. E., Jensen S. C., Moss S. E., Cruickshanks K. J. The relation of socioeconomic factors to age-related cataract, maculopathy, and impaired vision. The Beaver Dam Eye Study. Ophthalmology. 1994 Dec;101(12):1969–1979. doi: 10.1016/s0161-6420(13)31077-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Klein R., Klein B. E., Linton K. L., De Mets D. L. The Beaver Dam Eye Study: visual acuity. Ophthalmology. 1991 Aug;98(8):1310–1315. doi: 10.1016/s0161-6420(91)32137-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Livingston P. M., Carson C. A., Stanislavsky Y. L., Lee S. E., Guest C. S., Taylor H. R. Methods for a population-based study of eye disease: the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 1994 Dec;1(3):139–148. doi: 10.3109/09286589409047222. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Livingston P. M., Guest C. S., Bateman A., Woodcock N., Taylor H. R. Cost-effectiveness of recruitment methods in a population-based epidemiological study: the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project. Aust J Public Health. 1994 Sep;18(3):314–318. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1994.tb00251.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Salive M. E., Guralnik J., Christen W., Glynn R. J., Colsher P., Ostfeld A. M. Functional blindness and visual impairment in older adults from three communities. Ophthalmology. 1992 Dec;99(12):1840–1847. doi: 10.1016/s0161-6420(92)31715-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Taylor H. R., Livingston P. M., Stanislavsky Y. L., McCarty C. A. Visual impairment in Australia: distance visual acuity, near vision, and visual field findings of the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project. Am J Ophthalmol. 1997 Mar;123(3):328–337. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9394(14)70128-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Tielsch J. M., Sommer A., Katz J., Quigley H., Ezrine S. Socioeconomic status and visual impairment among urban Americans. Baltimore Eye Survey Research Group. Arch Ophthalmol. 1991 May;109(5):637–641. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1991.01080050051027. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Tielsch J. M., Sommer A., Witt K., Katz J., Royall R. M. Blindness and visual impairment in an American urban population. The Baltimore Eye Survey. Arch Ophthalmol. 1990 Feb;108(2):286–290. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1990.01070040138048. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The British Journal of Ophthalmology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES