title: Hospital admissions in older people with visual impairment in Britain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We aimed to assess the risk of hospital admission associated with visual impairment in a representative sample of older people living in the community in Britain.
  
  
  METHODS
  
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study of hospital admission in a population-based sample of community dwelling people aged 75 years and above in Britain.
  
  
  METHODS
  53 general practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  14,394 participants in the MRC Trial of Assessment and Management of Older people in the Community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital admission.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Visually impaired older people had 238.7 admissions/1000 person-years compared to 169.7 admissions/1000 person-years in people with good vision: age and sex adjusted rate ratio (RR) 1.32 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.47). Adjusting for a wide range of potential explanatory factors largely eliminated this association: RR 1.06 (95% CI 0.94 to 1.20). However, adjusting for a more limited range of confounding factors, excluding those factors possibly a consequence of reduced vision, left a modest increased risk: RR 1.19 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.34).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association between visual impairment and rate of hospital admission can be attributed to higher levels of co-morbidity and reduced functional ability among people with reduced vision. Visual impairment is likely to be an important contributor to reduced functional ability, but other factors may also be involved.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. jennifer.evans@lshtm.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Liam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smeeth
authors.forename: Astrid E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Fletcher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D006113:United Kingdom; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
references.citation: Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 1993 Oct;13(4):400-4
references.pmid: 8278195
references.citation: Br J Ophthalmol. 2002 Jul;86(7):795-800
references.pmid: 12084753
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3):CD001054
references.pmid: 16855956
references.citation: Br J Ophthalmol. 2004 Mar;88(3):365-70
references.pmid: 14977771
references.citation: Aging Clin Exp Res. 2005 Aug;17(4):281-6
references.pmid: 16285193
references.citation: Arch Ophthalmol. 1999 Jul;117(7):943-9
references.pmid: 10408461
references.citation: Br J Ophthalmol. 2000 Feb;84(2):165-70
references.pmid: 10655192
references.citation: BMC Health Serv Res. 2002 Oct 25;2(1):21
references.pmid: 12398790
references.citation: Gerontology. 1995;41(5):280-5
references.pmid: 8537012
references.citation: Lancet. 2004 Nov 6-12;364(9446):1667-77
references.pmid: 15530627