Association between Severity of Vision Impairment and Falls among People Aged 65 Years and Older Living in the Community: Findings from the BRFSS

Background: Falls are common among people aged 65 and older.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of self-reported falls in the past three months among community-dwelling older adults by visual impairment (VI) status.

Methods: We analyzed 2006, 2008, and 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 19 states (n=48,585) and used multivariate logistic regressions to examine the association between VI and falls among adults aged 65 years and older.

Results: For people with no VI, 13.3% reported falls; of those with little or moderate/severe VI, 17.0% and 23.1% reported falls, respectively. After controlling for selected factors, older adults with moderate to severe VI were more likely to report falling than those with no VI (odds ratio [OR] 1.33, 95CI (1.15 - 1.53). There was no significant difference between those with little VI and no VI (OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.93=9-1.27). Our findings also indicate that, independent of VI status, falls are strongly associated with older age, being non-Hispanic white (vs. non-Hispanic black), having poor health status, and having chronic conditions or activity limitations (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Severity of VI is associated with falls among older adults. A comprehensive fall prevention strategy needs to incorporate eye care and vision health promotion.