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The relationship between vision impairment and well‐being among centenarians: findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study
Author(s) -
Toyoshima Aya,
Martin Peter,
Sato Shinichi,
Poon Leonard W.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.4763
Subject(s) - centenarian , loneliness , psychology , depression (economics) , visual impairment , social support , snellen chart , gerontology , low vision , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , visual acuity , psychiatry , medicine , optometry , ophthalmology , longevity , psychotherapist , economics , macroeconomics
Objective The current study evaluated the visual function among centenarians and assessed the relationship between vision, social support, and well‐being. Methods This study used the data set of the Georgia Centenarian Study including 106 centenarians (18 men and 88 women). We used scores of the Snellen chart for objective vision and self‐reports for subjective vision. Social support, depression, and loneliness were also assessed. Results Approximately 75% of the centenarians showed some level of objective visual impairment, and 56% of them reported that they had visual impairment. Objective vision impairment was significantly related to depression. Multiple regression analysis revealed that both variables of visual function were significantly associated with depression, but not loneliness. In the model including depression, a significant interaction was obtained for social support and objective vision. Centenarians reported lower level of depression when they had social support. However, centenarians who had low level of visual function tended to report higher depression even if they had social support. Implications These results indicated that vision function was related to centenarians' well‐being, especially depression. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.