Severity of visual impairment and self-rated health among community-residing adults

PURPOSE: Poor self-rated health is associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes and mortality in many community-based studies of adults. The purpose of this study is to assess associations between severity of visual impairment (VI) and self-rated health. METHODS: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a continuous multistage area probability survey of the US population. Participants were administered questions about VI and selected eye diseases and were asked to categorize their health status (HS) as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor. In the present analysis those who ranked their health as poor or fair were grouped into a low HS category. Complete data were available on 120,735 adults greater-or-equal, slanted18 years of age who participated in the 1986–1994 NHIS. Statistical methods included multiple logistic regression models with adjustments for covariates as well as for the survey design. RESULTS: A total of 334 participants reported bilateral blindness (0.3%); an additional 4,870 reported some VI and/or severe VI in at least one eye (4.0%). The percentage of low HS participants was 13.1%. After adjustment for age, gender, glaucoma, retinopathy, and cataract, compared with participants with no VI, odds ratios (ORʹs) for low HS was 2.49 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.32–2.68) for participants with some VI and 4.07 (3.15–5.27) for blind participants. CONCLUSION: After adjusting for age, gender, and presence of eye diseases, VI is significantly associated with fair/poor self-rated health status in community-residing adults; this association is strongest among blind adults.