Visual acuity and its relationship to early growth, eye disease, and aging in north Hertfordshire.
We investigated the relationship between visual acuity, early growth and eye disease in a retrospective cohort study of 700 individuals in North Hertfordshire. Records of birth weight and weight at one year were used to determine early growth. We measured visual acuity and age-related eye diseases using standard instruments in those same individuals (now aged 63 to 73). Visual acuity below the legal threshold for driving in the UK (6/11 or poorer) was present in 13% of subjects. There was no clear association between birth weight or weight at one year and visual acuity. Vision impairment was found to be associated with refractive error, cataract, age-related maculopathy, and elevated macular threshold. After controlling for the effects of eye disease, increasing age remained a significant predictor of poorer visual acuity.
MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Hants, UK.
N
N
Hall
A A
AA
Sayer
J
J
Evans
A
A
Rauf
C
C
Cooper
R
R
Wormald
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*