DEPRESSION AND DISABILITY IN OLDER-PEOPLE WITH IMPAIRED VISION - A FOLLOW-UP-STUDY

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and thei r relationship to disability in older low vision patients. DESIGN: Pan el study with 2-year follow-up. PARTICIPANTS: Community-residing older people (N = 31). MEASUREMENTS: Geriatric Depression Scale, Community Disability Scale, and Snellen visual acuity. RESULTS: Twelve of 31 pat ients (38.7%) had GDS scores greater than or equal to 11 at baseline. Two years later, 10 of these 12 patients remained depressed, and three of the 19 (15.8%) previously nondepressed patients had become depress ed. Depressed patients tended to be more disabled functionally than no ndepressed patients at follow-up. The correlation of disability with d epression and with vision were examined for the entire sample and reve aled a strong correlation between disability and depression (r = .40; P = .013) compared with that of disability and vision (r = .34; P = .0 32) at baseline and at follow-up: depression (r = .68; P = .001), visi on (r = .45; P = .006). There was no significant correlation between d epression and vision at baseline (r = .06; P = .383), but there was a trend toward correlation at follow-up (r = .28; P = .067). CONCLUSION: Depressive symptoms are prevalent and persistent among low vision pat ients and appear more highly related to disability than is vision. The frequent occurrence of depression and the availability of effective t reatment argue for its recognition and treatment as possible ways to r educe disability in older persons with low vision.