Open AccessAssociation between vision-specific quality of life and falls in community-dwelling older adults: LOHAS
Author(s) -
Kakuya Niihata,
Shingo Fukuma,
Yoshimune Hiratsuka,
Koichi Ono,
Masakazu Yamada,
Miho Sekiguchi,
Koji Otani,
Shinichi Kikuchi,
Satoshi Konno,
Shunichi Fukuhara
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0195806
Subject(s) - medicine , interquartile range , confounding , odds ratio , logistic regression , cohort study , cohort , quality of life (healthcare) , poison control , odds , gerontology , population , demography , injury prevention , environmental health , nursing , sociology
Background Falls and fall-related fractures are a major public health problem among the older adults. Although objective measures of poor vision have been reported to be associated with falls, the association of self-reported visual function and vision-specific quality of life (QOL) with falls has been inconsistent across several studies. We investigated the association of self-reported visual function and vision specific QOL with falls in community-dwelling older adults. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using the baseline data from participants of the Locomotive Syndrome and Health Outcome in Aizu Cohort Study (LOHAS), which is an ongoing population-based cohort study to evaluate the association of physical dysfunction with the clinical outcomes in community-dwelling people. In the present study, the participants aged over 65 years in 2010 were eligible. The exposure variable was the composite score of the VFQ-J11, which was newly developed using item response theory to evaluate vision specific QOL, and the self-reported outcomes were any fall and frequent falls (≥2) over a 1-month period. We estimated odds ratios using separate logistic regression models adjusted for relevant confounding factors. Results Among 1624 participants, the median (interquartile range) composite score of VFQ-J11 was 86.8 (76.0–95.9). Any fall and frequent falls were reported by 13.9% and 5.4% of participants, respectively. The composite score of the VFQ-J11 was significantly associated with both frequent falls (adjusted ORs per 10 points, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.68–0.93) and any fall (adjusted ORs per 10 points, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.76–0.94). Conclusions We found that the composite score of the VFQ-J11 was associated with falls in community-dwelling older adults. Detecting individuals with visual impairments associated with falls using the VFQ-J11 and improvement in the score by interventions could prevent falls. We may consider adding self-reported visual function and vision-specific QOL to conventional risk factors for fall among older adults.