Prevalence and correlates of vision impairment and its association with cognitive impairment among older adults in India: a cross-sectional study

Objective This study aimed to investigate the predictors of vision impairment in old age and how impaired vision is associated with cognitive impairment among the ageing population. Design A cross-sectional study was conducted using a large country-representative survey data. Setting and participants This study used data from the 'Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India' survey, conducted in 2011. Participants included 9541 older adults aged 60 years and above. Primary and secondary outcome measures The outcome variables were vision impairment and cognitive impairment. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate analysis were presented. Additionally, multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to fulfil the objectives. Results A proportion of 59.1% of the respondents had vision impairment. Nearly 60% of the participants had cognitive impairment. Those who had vision impairment were 11% more likely to have cognitive impairment compared to their counterparts (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.23). low psychological health (OR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.36 to 1.77), low activities of daily living (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.43 to 2.27), low instrumental activities of daily living (OR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.14 to 1.40), poor self-rated health (OR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.15 to 1.41) and chronic morbidity (OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.14 to 1.41) were found to be risk factors for cognitive impairment among older adults. Conclusions Additional efforts in terms of advocacy, availability, affordability and accessibility especially in a country with big illiteracy issue are mandatory to increase the reach of eye-care services and reduce the prevalence of avoidable visual impairment and vision losses that lead to cognitive deficits among the older population.