Age-related eye disease and cognitive function
Objective: To examine the extent of cognitive impairment in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, or Fuchs corneal dystrophy as compared to a control group of older adults with good vision. Design: Cross-sectional hospital-based study. Participants: 420 people (113 with AMD, 66 with Fuchs, 130 with glaucoma, and 111 controls). Methods: Patients were recruited from the ophthalmology clinic of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (Montreal, Canada) from September 2009 until September 2013. Patients with AMD and Fuchs had to have visual acuity in the better eye of worse than 20/40 while patients with glaucoma had to have visual field deficit in their worse eye of at least -4dB. Control patients who had normal visual acuity and visual field were recruited from the same clinic. Cognitive status was measured using the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) Blind Version. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual field were assessed, and the medical record was reviewed. Linear regression was used. Main Outcome Measures: Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) Blind Version Results: The three eye diseases were associated with of cognitive impairment. Compared to controls, patients with age-related eye disease had lower MMSE Blind scores (p < 0.05). Scores were between 0.7-0.8 units lower than the control group. Better education was associated with better cognition (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that eye diseases are associated with cognitive impairment. It is important to further explore the impact of eye disease on cognitive function in this population in order to develop interventions that would help affected older adults maintaintheir independence.
Cognition Eye disease Aging