Research suggests older adults with uncorrectable poor vision may be at increased risk of death.

MedPage Today (10/12, Emery) reported that, according to a study published Oct. 12 in the Archives of Ophthalmology, “older adults with uncorrectable poor vision are at increased risk of death, possibly because their limited sight translates into difficulty walking.” After analyzing “analyzed data from the Blue Mountains Eye Study, in which 3,654” people “over the age of 49 were examined between 1992 and 1994, with follow-up exams at five and 10 years,” researchers from Australia’s Westmead Millennium Institute found that “adults between 49 and 74 with non-correctable vision problems were 35 percent more likely to die than people with unimpaired vision,” with the “association…particularly strong for patients under 75.” That group “had mortality risk more than four times higher than unimpaired subjects.” Reuters (10/13) also covers the story.