Health-related quality of life and visual and cognitive impairment among nursing-home residents

Abstract

Aim-To examine whether the relationship between vision impairment and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in nursing home residents is impacted by co-existing cognitive impairment.Methods-This cross-sectional study involved a total of 382 English-speaking older adults (>55 years of age) with ≥13 on the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) from seventeen nursing homes in Birmingham, AL. Assessments were taken of visual acuity (Lighthouse Near Visual Acuity Test), cognition (MMSE), and health-related quality of life (Nursing Home Vision-Targeted HealthRelated Quality of Life Questionnaire, VF-14, and the SF-36).Results-A greater portion of participants had both vision and cognitive impairments (38.5%) as compared to those with neither impairment (21.5%), vision impairment alone (13.4%), and cognitive impairment alone (26.7%). Cognitive impairment did not modify the impact of vision impairment on HRQoL. The reduction in HRQoL associated with vision impairment was similar for those with and without cognitive impairment. Conclusion-The deleterious impact of vision impairment on HRQoL in nursing home residents was not exacerbated by the co-occurrence of cognitive impairment. Aging-related visual impairment in nursing home residents is often reversible through treatment leading to improved HRQoL, and thus it is clinically important to know that cognitive impairment is unlikely to interfere with this benefit.

Quality of life of eye amputated patients

“…The Danish adapted version was tested and validated in 1998 (Bjorner et al 1998a,b,c). The self-administrated SF-36 has been used in various ophthalmological studies (Cruickshanks et al 1999;Chia et al 2003Chia et al , 2004Chia et al , 2006bVarma et al 2006;Elliott et al 2009;Gall et al 2009) and has been found useful for collecting data from older patients as well as visually impaired patients (Chia et al 2006a).…”

Impact of Visual Impairment on Vision-Specific Quality of Life among Older Adults Living in Nursing Home

“…1,[14][15][16][17][18] Impaired vision significantly reduces activities associated with participation in society and religion, mobility, recreation and daily living etc. [1][2][3]15,16 Vision loss in later life contributes to physical activity limitations, reduction in independent mobility, imbalance, risk of hip fractures, mortality and the need for community and/or family support. 2,3,7,16,18 VI and blindness are major forms of disability in individuals living in nursing homes and these affect vision-specific functioning and socio-emotional aspects of daily living.…”

“…1,12,13 VI has significant and deleterious impact on quality of life (QoL) and reduces vision-related QoL. 2,3,5,6,14 Vision-related QoL is the present visual status and the limitations in daily living activities like personal hygiene, communication, self-care, social skills, mobility, safety etc. as perceived by the subjects.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Major causes of irreversible blindness such as retinal diseases, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) as well as reversible causes like cataract are common in nursing homes. It is vital that vision care not be ignored in this population.…”

Factors associated with quality of life in nursing home residents with frailty

“…Nursing home residents who had higher socio-economic status [4] better performance in the activities of daily living [4][5][6][7] better physical function [4,5] , greater fall efficacy [8] , more participation in physical exercise [7] , more social support from nursing aids or more interaction with family [4] tended to report better QoL. Their QoL was worse, however, if they had chronic pain [8,9] vision impairment [10] or pressure ulcers [8] . Sitoh et al's study [11] of residents in nursing homes and hostels found that type of care home (nursing homes), osteoarthritis and Parkinson's disease, previous fractures, and urinary incontinence were factors affecting the health-related QoL of institutionalized elderly people.…”