Table 1.
Characteristics of study population
| Binocular presenting vision with usual glasses | |||||
| Good vision (better than 6/9) N = 7107 |
Reduced vision (6/9 to 6/18) N = 5564 |
Visually impaired (worse than 6/18) N = 1723 |
Missing data |
Association with visual impairment, after adjusting for age and sex* |
|
| Median binocular acuity (IQR range)** | 0.025 (-0.025,0.1) | 0.3 (0.225,0.35) | 0.625 (0.525, 0.8) | 167 | NA |
| Mean age(SD) | 79.7 (3.8) | 82.0 (4.7) | 84.3 (5.4) | 66 | p < 0.001 |
| 90 years and older (N%) | 115(1.6) | 362(6.5) | 258(15.0) | 66 | p < 0.001 |
| Female (N%) | 3997(56.2) | 3602(64.7) | 1220(70.8) | 0 | p < 0.001 |
| Married (N%) | 3419(49.2) | 2037(37.4) | 477(28.2) | 291 | p = 0.005 |
| Widowed (N%) | 3148(45.3) | 3068(56.3) | 1074(63.4) | ||
| Lives alone (N%) | 3055(43.0) | 2827(50.8) | 936(54.3) | 0 | p = 0.293 |
| Home owner (N%) | 4872(68.9) | 3342(60.4) | 929(54.8) | 97 | p < 0.001 |
| Sheltered accommodation (N%) | 427(6.0) | 527(9.5) | 233(13.7) | ||
| Financial difficulties (N%) | 294(4.2) | 344(6.3) | 200(11.9) | 189 | p < 0.001 |
| Looked after someone with a serious illness in last year (N%) | 963(13.8) | 727(13.3) | 215(12.8) | 255 | p = 0.891 |
| Death of loved one in last year (N%) | 1168(16.6) | 922(16.8) | 317(18.7) | 157 | p = 0.117 |
| No relative/friend to call on/no help at night (N%) | 436(6.5) | 346(6.8) | 100(6.6) | 1071 | p = 0.915 |
| Drinks above median alcohol consumption (N%) | 1519(21.5) | 982(17.8) | 250(14.7) | 117 | p < 0.001 |
| Current smoker (N%) | 679(9.6) | 561(10.1) | 204(11.9) | 22 | p < 0.001 |
| Mean body mass index (BMI)Mean (SD) | 26.2 (4.1) | 26.0 (4.3) | 25.3 (4.5) | 1157 | p = 0.010 |
| Lightest fifth for BMI (N%) | 1209(17.9) | 1009(20.0) | 410(28.5) | p = 0.018 | |
| Depression (N%)** | 378(5.4) | 493(9.1) | 219(13.2) | 381 | p < 0.001 |
| Diabetes (N%) | 500(7.0) | 448(8.1) | 164(9.5) | 0 | p < 0.001 |
| % Hearing impairment (N%) | 1443(20.5) | 1495(27.2) | 613(36.1) | 156 | p = 0.002 |
| Reported major illness (N%) | 1898(26.7) | 1750(31.5) | 585(34.0) | 20 | p < 0.001 |
| Reported fair/poor health (N%) | 837(11.8) | 988(17.9) | 394(23.1) | 88 | p < 0.001 |
| Unable to do 2–4 ADL (N%) | 1002(14.2) | 1300(23.6) | 610(36.0) | 120 | p < 0.001 |
| Unable to do 5–8 ADL (N%) | 307(4.4) | 626(11.4) | 394(23.2) | ||
| 2 or more falls in last six months (N%) | 408(5.8) | 543(9.8) | 221(13.0) | 53 | p = 0.005 |
| Not very/not at all active (N%) | 1128(15.9) | 1456(26.3) | 640(37.7) | 87 | p < 0.001 |
| MMSE 12–17 (N%) | 173(2.5) | 252(4.6) | 225(13.3) | 138 | p < 0.001 |
| MMSE 18–23 (N%) | 800(11.3) | 1051(19.1) | 542(32.1) | ||
IQR = Interquartile range; ADL activities of daily living; MMSE mini mental state examination score.
* From multinomial logistic regression model. Dependent variable visual impairment (3 categories). Independent variables age, sex and row variable. All tests take into account the cluster design of the study.
**LogMAR score