Falls and self-assessment of eyesight among elderly people in a south Brazilian municipality

Saes, Mirelle

Falls and self-assessment of eyesight among elderly people in a south Brazilian municipality

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Exhibit hall (Dena'ina Center)

Mirelle O Saes, MS , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Bruno P Nunes, MS , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Fernando V Siqueira, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Elaine Tomasi, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Suele M Silva, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Denise S Silveira, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Mariangela U Soares, MD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Luiz A Facchini, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Elaine Thumé, PhD , Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: Visual impairment has been reported in the literature as an important factor associated with falls. Elderly patients with decreased visual function are 50.0% more likely to fall due to the reduction in visual ability, a major physiological components associated with impaired balance and proprioception.

METHODS: This paper seeks to verify the association between falls and self-assessment of visual acuity in elderly people by means of a cross-sectional population-based study involving 1,593 elderly people (aged 60 or over) from the urban zone of the municipality of Southern Brazil. Poisson regression was used for association analysis.

RESULTS: Fall prevalence in the last year was 28.0% (95% CI: 25.8; 30.2), with 45.0% of these having suffered two or more falls in the same period. Elderly people self-assessing their eyesight as bad/very poor (10.0%) or regular (33.3%) showed a linear increase in fall occurrence when compared to individuals who considered their eyesight to be good/excellent.

CONCLUSIONS: Self-assessment of eyesight showed itself to be an important factor associated with the occurrence of falls. This results entails the need to make progress with tracing elderly people with eyesight difficulties and its possible impact on actions to prevent the occurrence of falls.