Fear of falling in age-related macular degeneration

BMC Ophthalmology

Research Article

Suzanne W van Landingham¹  David S Friedman¹  Emilie Chan¹  Pradeep Y Ramulu¹  Robert W Massof¹ 

[1] Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, 600 North Wolfe St. Maumenee B-110, 21287, Baltimore, MD, USA;

关键词: Fear of falling;    Falls;    Age-related macular degeneration;    Disability;    Older adults;    Visual acuity;    vision loss;    Physical function;    Safety;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2415-14-10

 received in 2013-11-06, accepted in 2014-01-14,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrior studies have shown age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to be associated with falls. The purpose of this study is to determine if (AMD) and AMD-related vision loss are associated with fear of falling, an important and distinct outcome.MethodsSixty-five persons with AMD with evidence of vision loss in one or both eyes and 60 glaucoma suspects with normal vision completed the University of Illinois at Chicago Fear of Falling questionnaire. Responses were Rasch analyzed. Scores were expressed in logit units, with lower scores demonstrating lesser ability and greater fear of falling.ResultsCompared to glaucoma suspect controls, AMD subjects had worse visual acuity (VA) (median better-eye VA = 20/48 vs. 20/24, p < 0.001) and worse contrast sensitivity (CS) (binocular CS = 1.9 vs. 1.5 log units, p < 0.001). AMD subjects were also older, more likely to be Caucasian, and less likely to be employed (p < 0.05 for all), but were similar with regards to other demographic and health measures. In multivariable models controlling for age, gender, body habitus, strength, and comorbid illnesses, AMD subjects reported greater fear of falling as compared to controls (β = -0.77 logits, 95% CI = -1.5 to -0.002, p = 0.045). In separate multivariable models, fear of falling increased with worse VA (β = -0.15 logits/1 line decrement, 95% CI = -0.28 to -0.03, p = 0.02) and CS (β = -0.20 logits/0.1 log unit decrement, 95% CI = -0.31 to -0.09, p = 0.001). Greater fear of falling was also associated with higher BMI, weaker grip, and more comorbid illnesses (p < 0.05 for all).ConclusionsAMD and AMD-related vision loss are associated with greater fear of falling in the elderly. Development, validation, and implementation of methods to address falls and fear of falling for individuals with vision loss from AMD are important goals for future work.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© van Landingham et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.