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. 2021 Feb 16;9(4):e489–e551. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30488-5

Figure 6.

A forest plot illustrating the findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between visual impairment and mortality. Findings are shown in terms of hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals, grouped by different levels of visual acuity. The results show a clear association between visual impairment and mortality except for visual acuity <6/60 (compared with 6/60).

Vision impairment and mortality

Random-effects meta-analysis results showing the maximally adjusted pooled hazard of mortality in adults with (A) mild vision impairment or worse (<6/12 compared with ≥6/12); (B) moderate vision impairment or worse (<6/18 compared with ≥6/18); (C) severe vision impairment or worse (<6/60 compared with ≥6/18); and (D) severe vision impairment or worse (<6/60 compared with ≥6/60). Events are defined as the number of participants in the study who died, and N is the total number of participants in the study. 12 cohorts that were included in the systematic review are not depicted in this figure for the following reasons: they used other vision impairment thresholds that could not be aggregated with these studies; they reported results per unit difference in visual acuity; they reported odds ratios or risk ratios that could not be pooled with HRs; or they compared a reference category of participants with good vision to participants with various vision impairment categories. References can be found in appendix 1 (p 100).