VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AND SOCIOECONOMIC-FACTORS

Background-Information about socioeconomic factors associated with vis ual impairment can assist in the design of intervention programmes. Su ch information was collected by the Melbourne Visual Impairment Projec t (Melbourne VIP). Methods-The Melbourne VIP was a population based st udy of non-institutionalised permanent residents in nine suburbs of th e Melbourne metropolitan area aged 40 years of age and older. A standa rdised eye examination was provided to eligible residents which includ ed a structured interview. Variables of interest for this analysis wer e age, sex, country of birth, language spoken at home, education level , use of private health insurance, employment status, and living arran gements. Visual impairment was defined as a best corrected visual acui ty <6/18 and/or visual field constriction to within 20 degrees of fixa tion. Results-A total of 3271 (83%) residents participated. Participan ts ranged in age from 40 to 98 years; 54% were female. Forty four (1.3 4%) were classified as visually impaired due to visual acuity and/or v isual field loss. To evaluate the independent association of the signi ficant sociodemographic variables with visual impairment, a regression model was constructed that included age, retirement status, use of pr ivate health insurance, and household arrangement. The results showed that age was the significant predictor of visual impairment (OR: 3.19; CI: 2.29-4.43), with the mean age of people with visual impairment si gnificantly older (75.0 years) compared with people without visual imp airment (58.2 years) (t test = 9.71; p = 0.0001). Of the 44 visually i mpaired people, 39 (87%) were aged 60 years of age and older. Conclusi on-The results indicate that age is the most significant factor associ ated with visual impairment. Of some importance was the finding that p eople with visual impairment were less likely to have private health i nsurance. With the aging of the population, the number of people affec ted by visual impairment will increase significantly. Intervention pro grammes need to be established before the onset of middle age to offse t the escalation of visual impairment in the older population.