Vision Impairment Associated With Cognitive Decline Across Multiple Measures

In older adults, links between vision impairment and cognitive decline differed across the vision measures of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity, according to study published online in JAMA Network Open.

“Furthermore, impaired contrast sensitivity was associated with declines across more cognitive domains than other measures of visual functioning,” wrote researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute on Aging, “suggesting that impaired contrast sensitivity may be associated with greater cognitive decline than visual acuity, which is more commonly measured.”

Study findings were based on data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging for 1202 community-dwelling older adults without dementia. Participants were followed, on average, for about 7 years.

Worse visual acuity and impaired stereo acuity were associated with greater declines in language and memory domain scores, according to the study. Worse contrast sensitivity, meanwhile, was associated with greater declines in language, memory, attention, and visuospatial ability domain scores.

The findings suggest previously documented associations between visual impairment and cognitive decline actually differ by the type of vision measure, researchers wrote.

“These results add further evidence to the interrelationship between vision and eye health with healthy brain aging,” they added, “and highlight the need for research into the impact of vision and eye health interventions on cognitive outcomes.”

Reference:
Varadaraj V, Munoz B, Deal JA, et al. Association of Vision Impairment With Cognitive Decline Across Multiple Domains in Older Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(7):e2117416. Published 2021 Jul 1. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.17416