title: The association of visual impairment and 3-year mortality among the elderly in Taiwan: the Shihpai Eye Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The association between visual impairment and mortality has been controversial. Moreover, literature on the relationship was very limited in the Asian population. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether visual impairment increases the 3-year risk of mortality in a cohort of urban Chinese elderly individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants in the Shihpai Eye Study, who were aged ≥65 years, with a baseline examination conducted between July 1, 1999 and December 31, 2000, were recruited for the current study. The total number of possible participants identified was 4750. Of those, 3746 persons were eligible, and 2045 persons were randomly selected to be invited to participate in the study. Of those 2045 individuals, 1361 (66.6%) participated in both the questionnaire and eye examination. A follow-up of a fixed cohort was also conducted after 3 years. The death of any participants was confirmed through the household registration system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1361 participants included at baseline, 54 (3.97%) died before the 3-year follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that mortality was significantly associated with a fall history [relative risk (RR): 2.12; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.08-3.98] and a history of diabetes (RR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.03-3.95). Visual impairment was not a significant predictor of mortality after adjustment for confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After adjustments were made for age, sex, education, marital status, lifestyle factors, depression symptoms, fall history, and history of systemic diseases, visual impairment was not a significant predictor of 3-year mortality in elderly persons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Tung-Mei
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Su-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Catherine Jiu-Ling
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Shui-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Wen-Ming
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: pschou@ym.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Pesus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D013624:Taiwan; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000401:mortality*
keywords: Chinese; mortality; urban; visual impairment