ABSTRACT
AIM: To estimate the prevalence of visual impairment (VI) and associated factors and further quantify its association with social isolation, depression and life satisfaction among older adults in Ghana. METHODS: WHO Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health Ghana dataset for older adults 50 years and above was used for this study. Social isolation, depression and life satisfaction were our primary outcomes with VI being our secondary outcome. We employed negative binomial, Poisson and generalised negative binomial regression models individually modified with Coarsened Exact Matching method of analysis. All analysis was performed by adopting robust SE estimation using Stata V.15. RESULTS: The prevalence of VI was 17.1% (95% CI14.3 to 20.2) and the factors associated include age groups, educational level, religion, region, where the participant was born, and difficulty in work/households activity (p<0.05). The inferential analysis shows that the significant log-likelihood score of social isolation and life satisfaction for older adults with VI was 0.25 more (95% CI 0.03 to 0.47) and 0.04 less (95% CI -0.08 to -0.01), respectively, compared with those without VI. The prevalence of depression among older adults with VI was significantly 90% higher compared with non-VI (adjusted prevalence ratio (95% CI) = 1.90 (1.17 to 3.09), p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of VI is associated with increasing age, educational level and self-rated health. VI was identified to be associated with social isolation, depression and diminishing life satisfaction. In order to achieve sustainable development goal #3, a national focus on geriatric care as part of the implementation of the National Ageing Policy will garner improvement in the quality of life of older adults with visual VI in Ghana. Eye health practitioners at all levels of the health systems should consider the psychosocial consequences of VI for the optimum care of the older adult client.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To compare central corneal thickness (CCT) in high-tension glaucomatous eyes and nonglaucomatous eyes with normal intraocular pressure (IOP) and to determine if there is any correlation between CCT and severity of glaucoma, as indicated by vertical cup-to-disc ratio. METHODS: A case-control study that involved 506 subjects at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana, from August 2006 to July 2007. The cases were patients with (high tension and IOP more than 21 mm Hg) primary open-angle glaucoma, and the controls were patients with normal IOP (less than 21 mm Hg) and no evidence of glaucoma. The main outcome measures were CCT, as measured by ultrasonic pachymetry (model DGH 55 pachmate), and vertical cup-to-disc ratio. RESULTS: Five hundred six subjects were recruited: 253 cases (506 eyes) and 253 controls (505 eyes). The mean CCT of the right eye for the glaucoma cases was 524.28 µm [95% confidence interval (CI), 4.44; SD, 36.85] and for the controls was 530.00 µm (95% CI, 4.56; SD, 35.75). The mean CCT of the left eye for the glaucoma cases was 524.70 µm (95% CI, 4.48; SD, 36.20) and for the controls was 531.06 µm (95% CI, 4.40; SD, 35.52). The relation between CCT and cupping determined by Pearson correlation coefficient yielded values of -0.09 and 0.01 for the right and left eyes, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference between mean CCT of cases and controls in the right eye (P = 0.08), but there was a weakly significant difference in the CCT of the left eye (P = 0.05). Also, there was no correlation between cup-to-disc ratio and CCT.
