Relationship between visual acuity and instrumental activities of daily living of the elderly in clinical segment

Objective: To evaluate the influence of visual acuity in instrumental activities of daily living in elderly patients in follow-up period. Methods: through own instruments, sixty-four elderly men and women were interviewed in clinical segment at an academic hospital of Campinas/SP. They were then divided into two groups in accordance to the values that were obtained through the measure of the VA: the first group consisted of elderly people with normal vision or close to the normal, and the second group was formed of those with low vision. Bivariate correlations were made between the variables in order to identify the following relations: between groups of visual and instrumental activities of daily living. Results: Significant differences between the elderly with normal vision or close to the normal (group I) and those with low vision (group II) were found: the group II had greater difficulty than the group I total score of the instrument and the following tasks: telephone use, meal preparation, handicrafts, launder and take the medicine correctly. Conclusion: This study, elderly people with low vision of both sexes have more difficulty to carry out AIVDs than elderly people with normal vision or close to normal.