| Summary: | 碩士 === 中山醫學大學 === 醫學研究所 === 102 === Purpose：Just few epidemiology data of longitudinal study has been available on risk factors of visual impairment in Taiwanese elderly. The purpose of the study was to determine the predictive risk factor associated with visual impairment in a nationwide elderly population in Taiwan.
Methods and Materials：Data were obtained from the “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan”, which was launched in 1989. We used data in 1996 as the baseline to conduct a cohort of 2159 persons aged 65 to 103 years participated in the interview. There are 1816 persons participated in follow-up interviews in 1999. Visual impairment was defined by self-perceived difficulty in seeing. Independent variables, including sex, age, education, ethnicity, income, chronic diseases, depression status(evaluated by CES-D) , health behaviors, food and nutrition supplement were gathered at baseline. A Chi-square test was used for univariate analysis. Statistically significant (p<0.05) univariate relationships were entered into logistics regression model.
Results：In the three years follow-up, the incidence of visual impairment was 16%(n=294). Risk factors of low education level (elementary vs illiterate OR= OR=0.5, CI=0.34-0.72; medium vs illiterate OR=0.19, CI=0.10-0.38; high vs illiterate OR=0.15, CI=0.04-0.54), aborigines (OR=5.5, CI=1.92 -15.56), stroke (OR=2.21, CI=1.03 -4.73), cataract (OR=1.53, CI=1.05 -2.22), depression (OR=1.57, CI=1.10 -2.20)were independent predictive factors for visual impairment.
Conclusion and Suggestion：Those who are at high risk of visual impairment should receive detail assessment and active management to prevent visual disability.
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