Depression associated with vision loss

More than 10,000 adults over the age of 20 took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2005 and 2008 and results of this study were published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology. After analyzing the data from the survey, researchers found that people suffering from depression are more likely to have self-reported vision loss. The depression rate was around 11 percent among the participants who reported vision loss while comparatively, it was only 5 percent among the participants who did not report any vision loss. Researchers accounted for other factors such as sex, age and overall health and concluded that there was indeed a significant link between self-reported vision loss and depression. While the study did not demonstrate that one condition causes the other, it did provide additional evidence to say that there is a relationship between depression and vision loss amongst adults of all ages. Researchers stress the need to recognize depression among people who report a loss of vision and an inability to perform routine daily tasks.