Vision Deficit Is a New Marker of Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Despite the frequent combination of cognitive impairments in patients with cataracts and glaucoma, the latter remain insufficiently studied with various visual deficits. The purpose: to study the association of visual deficits in cataracts and primary open–angle glaucoma with cognitive impairment. The clinical study involved 326 elderly patients with cataracts and 318 elderly patients with primary open­angle glaucoma. The diagnosis of this ophthalmology was performed according to generally accepted methods. The degree of cognitive impairment was determined according to the Mini­-Mental­-State­-Examination (MMSE) scale. Visual deficit was assessed by visual acuity without correction. It was found that with low visual deficit (visual acuity without correction of 0,51–0,60 and over 0,61) in the examined patients with cataract, the average score on the MMSE scale varied from 28,7 ± 0,4 to 28,8 ± 0,6 points, and in patients with primary open­-angle glaucoma from 28,3 ± 0.5 to 28,5 ± 0.6 points with no significant differences in both cases. With severe visual deficit (visual acuity without correction to 0,20 and 0,21–0,30), the average score on the MMSE scale varied from 15,2 ± 0,3 to 17,4 ± 0,4 and from 13,8 ± 0,4 to 17,6 ± 0,3, respectively. The correlation coefficient between visual acuity without correction and the average MMSE score in patients with cataract was +0,436, and in patients with glaucoma — r = +0,482. The presence of an association of visual acuity without correction with cognitive dysfunction is also confirmed by regression analysis, which allows us to consider vision deficiency as a marker of cognitive impairment and can be used in monitoring them in patients with cataracts and glaucoma.

Keywords

• cataract
• primary open­-angle glaucoma
• cognitive impairment
• visual acuity without correction
• marker of cognitive impairment
• visual deficit