The association between visual impairment and mortality in elderly people.

By linking together the results from two surveys of elderly people in an English community it has been possible to consider visual impairment as a possible risk factor for mortality in people aged 75 years and over. Although minor degrees of visual impairment are associated with an increased mortality rate, blind people survive better than those with less serious visual impairments. Associations are considered between visual impairment and other known risk factors for mortality in the elderly. Visual impairment is shown to be associated with degree of social contact, whether a person lives alone, dementia score, physical activity score and number of unmet needs.