Key Takeaways

More than a quarter of U.S. seniors is living with an untreated vision problem — nearsightedness, farsightedness, or impaired contrast sensitivity

Trouble reading? This can be treated with an inexpensive pair of glasses from any local store

Future research will track whether impaired vision increases a person’s risk of other health problems

MONDAY, Jan. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) — More than 1 in 4 U.S. seniors lives with untreated vision problems that, in many cases, could be solved with an inexpensive pair of glasses, a new study reports.

About 28% of people older than 71 are suffering from nearsightedness, farsightedness, or impaired contrast sensitivity, even when wearing their glasses or contact lenses, according to results published Jan. 12 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Researchers found that about 22% of study participants were farsighted, while about 10% were nearsighted and 10% had impaired contrast sensitivity — the ability to distinguish an object from its background.

Nearsightedness can require prescription glasses to correct distance vision, and contrast sensitivity often is associated with eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, or macular degeneration.

But most cases of farsightedness can be treated with relatively cheap reading glasses, which are readily available at pharmacies, discount shops, and grocery stores said senior researcher Dr. Joshua Ehrlich, a clinical lecturer of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.

“This is a problem that for many people is really fixable with a low-cost intervention and it really can impact the quality of life, well-being, and independence in late life,” Ehrlich said……

Read more: https://consumer.healthday.com/vision-loss-2659100672.html

Source: HealthDay