BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 12 (UPI) -- Routine eye care may not be taking place for a substantial segment of the nursing-home population, according to a study conducted in Birmingham, Ala.
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers examined 380 residents of 17 Birmingham-area nursing homes and found 57 percent of the residents were visually impaired, with visual acuity worse than 20/40 in the better eye.
Older adults living in the community typically have a visual impairment rate between 10 percent and 20 percent. Three-fourths of the participants had abnormal binocular contrast sensitivity, or the ability to detect boundaries between objects and changes in brightness, which is important for mobility and reading, according to the study published in Archives of Ophthalmology.
"Although 90 percent of the residents had some form of health insurance, 66 percent of them had no reference to eye examinations in their medical records," lead author Cynthia Owsley said in a statement.
"When asked about their most recent eye exam, 28 percent said it was in the previous year, 20 percent indicated that it was more than two years ago and one-third did not know."
