Eye Health & Mortality Rates

Better eye health may prevent psychosocial consequences, according to a study printed in the Archives of Ophthalmology.2 Visual impairment often leads to health consequences including social isolation, mental impairment, dependency on others, vehicle crashes, falls, fractures and depression, sometimes even leading to suicide. Increased mortality risks have been noted in adults with visual impairment and disabling eye disease according to a data review of National Health Surveys by Byrom Lam, M.D. of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine. A total of 137,479 subjects reported demographic information and details of visual impairment and other conditions. The participants’ deaths were then verified in 2002 using the National Death Index.

According to Byron L. Lam, M.D. from University of Miami School of Medicine’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, “The combined indirect effects of reported visual impairment operating jointly through poorer self-rated health and a higher number of reported non-ocular conditions increased the risk of suicide significantly by 18 percent.” This statistic enforces the idea that it is important to take care of your eye health as it is strongly related to psychological health as well.*

*Melamed, M.L., Michos, E.D., Post, W., Astor, B. “25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and the Risk of Mortality in the General Population.” Archives of Internal Medicine. Vol 168, Issue 15, Pages 1629-1637.