The Association Between Objectively Measured Vision Impairment and Self-Reported Physical Activity Among 34,129 Adults Aged ≥50 Years in Six Low- and Middle-Income Countries
in Journal of Aging and Physical ActivityThe authors investigated the association between vision impairment and physical activity among older adults from low- and middle-income countries. Visual acuity was measured using the tumbling ElogMAR chart, and vision impairment was defined as visual acuity worse than 6/18 (0.48 logMAR) in the better seeing eye. Physical activity was assessed by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression and meta-analysis were conducted to assess associations. The sample included 34,129 individuals aged 50–114 years (mean [SD] age 62.4 [16.0] years; 47.9% male). After adjustment for confounders, near vision impairment was not significantly associated with low physical activity, but far vision impairment showed a significant association (odds ratio = 1.32; 95% confidence interval [1.17, 1.49], I2 = 0.0%). Far vision impairment was dose-dependently associated with low physical activity (e.g., severe [<6/10] vs. no [≥6/12] far vision impairment; odds ratio = 1.80; 95% confidence interval [1.03, 3.15]). Interventions to address low levels of physical activity in the visually impaired in low- and middle-income countries should target those with far vision impairment.
Smith is with the Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Pardhan and López-Sánchez are with the Vision and Eye Research Institute, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University-Cambridge Campus, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Gorely is with the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, Highland, United Kingdom. Barnett is with the School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Jacob is with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Versailles, France. Jacob and Koyanagi are with the Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Tully is with the Institute of Mental Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Ulster University, Newtownabbey, United Kingdom. Veronese is with the Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Palermo, Palermo, Sicilia, Italy. Shin is with the Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Koyanagi is also with the ICREA, Pg. Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Spain.
© 2022 Human Kinetics