title: The occurrence of visual and cognitive impairment, and eye diseases in the super-elderly in Japan: a cross-sectional single-center study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The current state of eye diseases and treatments in the elderly as well as the relationships between dementia and systemic diseases remain unclear. Therefore, this study evaluated the prevalence of eye diseases, visual impairment, cognitive impairment, and falls (which are an important health issue and are considered one of the Geriatric Giants) in super-elderly people in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were 31 elderly people (62 eyes; mean age: 84.6 ± 8.8 years; age range 61-98 years) who were admitted to a geriatric health services facility. Eye treatment status, systemic diseases, dementia, and recent falls were investigated. Eye examinations including vision and intraocular pressure measurement, and slit-lamp biomicroscopy were conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean best corrected visual acuity (logMAR) was 0.51 ± 0.56, and mean intraocular pressure was 13.7 ± 3.5 mmHg. Approximately half of the subjects exhibited excavation of the optic nerve head including cataracts and glaucoma. Ten subjects had visual impairment (i.e., visual acuity of the eye with the better vision <20/40). The mean Hasegawa dementia scale scores between the visually impaired and non-visually impaired groups were 10.2 ± 6 and 16 ± 8 points, respectively (p < 0.05). Furthermore, 70% of subjects with visual impairment experienced a fall in the past year compared to 48% of those without visual impairment, although the difference was not significant. Regarding systemic diseases, there were 6, 5, and 15 cases of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, respectively. There was no significant difference between these systemic diseases and visual function after adjusted for age and gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The percentages of patients with age-related eye diseases and poor visual acuity in a geriatric health services facility were extremely high. Compared to those without visual impairment, those with visual impairment had lower dementia scores and a higher rate of falls.
authors.affiliation: Division of Ophthalmology, Department of Advanced Medicine, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka-cho, Obu, Aichi, 474-8511, Japan. hfukuoka@ncgg.go.jp.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuoka
authors.affiliation: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan. nagayamd@ma.medias.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagaya
authors.affiliation: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan. toba@ncgg.go.jp.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toba
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D001766:Blindness / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002386:Cataract / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014792:Visual Acuity