Blog vol 3. 3. Visual impairment to be avoided, get eyes checked regularly!
Of course, I would say this, after all eye exams are our thing…
In the past week a paper was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports by a U of Toronto professor, Esma Fuller-Thomson. In an analysis of 5.4 million seniors in the American Community Survey from 2008 to 2017 the results revealed some interesting findings on the link between hearing and visual impairment and cognitive decline.
This link has been known for some time, but the numbers here are startling.
The researchers found that older adults with only visual impairment had more than three times the occurrence of cognitive impairment (mental decline) than people with no impairment. Older adults with only hearing impairment had more than twice the occurrence of cognitive impairment. The risk increased eightfold for those with both hearing and visual impairment. (Read full article
here)
Being an optometrist, I have seen this first hand.
Moral of the story: Get your eyes checked regularly.
Ask your parents or other seniors in your life whether they are getting routine eye checks, and, of course, hearing checks too. The eightfold increase is the really staggering number.
The societal problems and family pressures of dealing with decline are unmeasurable, not to mention the reduction in quality of life for seniors.
Most of this is preventable with the treatment options available to us today.
Once again, I know that we can make a difference. At Burlington Eyecare we can take care of you and your eyes, but we have to see you to do that. Book an appointment.
We also do home visits for people who really cannot get out. There is a fee for this as OHIP does not cover it.
Til next week,
the good doctor
