{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"submitter":["Littlejohns TJ"],"funding":["Cancer Research UK","Medical Research Council","National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)","Nicolaus and Margrit Langbehn Foundation","UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship"],"pagination":["697-704"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8974347"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["77(4)"],"pubmed_abstract":["Visual impairment has emerged as a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, there is a lack of large studies with objective measures of vision and with more than 10 years of follow-up. We investigated whether visual impairment is associated with an increased risk of incident dementia in UK Biobank and European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk). In both cohorts, visual acuity was measured using a \"logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution\" (LogMAR) chart and categorized as no (≤0.30 LogMAR), mild (>0.3 to ≤0.50 LogMAR), and moderate to severe (>0.50 LogMAR) impairment. Dementia was ascertained through linkage to electronic medical records. After restricting to those aged ≥60 years, without prevalent dementia and with eye measures available, the analytic samples consisted of 62 206 UK Biobank and 7 337 EPIC-Norfolk participants, respectively. In UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk, respectively, 1 113 and 517 participants developed dementia over 11 and 15 years of follow-up. Using multivariable Cox proportional-hazards models, the hazard ratios for mild and moderate to severe visual impairment were 1.26 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.92-1.72) and 2.16 (95% CI: 1.37-3.40), in UK Biobank, and 1.05 (95% CI: 0.72-1.53) and 1.93 (95% CI: 1.05-3.56) in EPIC-Norfolk, compared to no visual impairment. When excluding participants censored within 5 years of follow-up or with prevalent poor or fair self-reported health, the direction of the associations remained similar for moderate impairment but was not statistically significant. Our findings suggest visual impairment might be a promising target for dementia prevention; however, the possibility of reverse causation cannot be excluded."],"journal":["The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences"],"pubmed_title":["Visual Impairment and Risk of Dementia in 2 Population-Based Prospective Cohorts: UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk."],"pmcid":["PMC8974347"],"funding_grant_id":["MC_PC_17228","G1000143","MR/T040912/1","NF-SI-0512-10114","MC-UU_12015/1","MR/N003284/1","MC_UU_12015/1","G0401527","16896","14136","MC_QA137853","NF-SI-0616-10090","C864/A14136","NF-SI-0611-10084"],"pubmed_authors":["Luben R","Brayne C","Conroy M","Littlejohns TJ","Foster PJ","Hayat S","Khawaja AP","Kuzma E"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Visual Impairment and Risk of Dementia in 2 Population-Based Prospective Cohorts: UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk.","description":"Visual impairment has emerged as a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, there is a lack of large studies with objective measures of vision and with more than 10 years of follow-up. We investigated whether visual impairment is associated with an increased risk of incident dementia in UK Biobank and European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk). In both cohorts, visual acuity was measured using a \"logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution\" (LogMAR) chart and categorized as no (≤0.30 LogMAR), mild (>0.3 to ≤0.50 LogMAR), and moderate to severe (>0.50 LogMAR) impairment. Dementia was ascertained through linkage to electronic medical records. After restricting to those aged ≥60 years, without prevalent dementia and with eye measures available, the analytic samples consisted of 62 206 UK Biobank and 7 337 EPIC-Norfolk participants, respectively. In UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk, respectively, 1 113 and 517 participants developed dementia over 11 and 15 years of follow-up. Using multivariable Cox proportional-hazards models, the hazard ratios for mild and moderate to severe visual impairment were 1.26 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.92-1.72) and 2.16 (95% CI: 1.37-3.40), in UK Biobank, and 1.05 (95% CI: 0.72-1.53) and 1.93 (95% CI: 1.05-3.56) in EPIC-Norfolk, compared to no visual impairment. When excluding participants censored within 5 years of follow-up or with prevalent poor or fair self-reported health, the direction of the associations remained similar for moderate impairment but was not statistically significant. Our findings suggest visual impairment might be a promising target for dementia prevention; however, the possibility of reverse causation cannot be excluded.","dates":{"release":"2022-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2022 Apr","modification":"2026-05-09T15:35:08.63Z","creation":"2025-04-04T23:04:31.478Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC8974347","cross_references":{"pubmed":["34718565"],"doi":["10.1093/gerona/glab325"]}}