TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Development and validation of Visual Impairment as a Risk for Falls Questionnaire
JO  - Age and ageing
A1  - Labreche, Tammy
A1  - Nandakumar, Krithika
A1  - Althomali, Mohammed
A1  - Leat, Susan J.
SP  - 444
EP  - 450
VL  - 47
IS  - 3
N2  - PURPOSE: visual impairment is associated with an increased risk of falls, yet eye care professionals are infrequently members of falls prevention clinics. The aim of this preliminary study was to validate a newly created Visual Impairment as a Risk for Falls Questionnaire intended to be used by those professionals not involved in eye care. <br><br>METHODS: about 53 participants with various visual impairments known to be associated with falls and 33 participants with normal sight were contacted within 4 months of a full oculo-visual assessment and were asked the questions from the current questionnaire pertaining to their visual function. A retrospective file review was undertaken and the sensitivity and specificity of participants' responses were calculated compared to the actual vision impairment based on the findings from their visual assessment. <br><br>RESULTS: the question regarding ability to read was included to identify people with central vision loss, a risk factor for falling. It was found to have sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 87%. Both sensitivity and specificity improved when participants with cognitive impairment were excluded. The question on recognising facial features gave sensitivity of 73% and specificity of 97% for this subgroup. However, questions related to impairments in stereopsis and peripheral fields were not useful. <br><br>CONCLUSION: the study demonstrates that several questions of the new questionnaire are useful; however, further testing with a larger population is needed to fully validate the questionnaire for use by health care professionals.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-0729
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afx202
ID  - ref1
ER  -