Brunswickyr

Visual impairment has indirect negative effects on an individual’s health, thus increasing the possibility of suicide among visually impaired individuals, according to an article published in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology. “Increased mortality risks have also been noted in adults with visual impairment and disabling eye disease,” according to the article.

Dr. Byron L. Lam of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School & Medicine, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to shed light on this.

The researchers studied data from the national health surveys from 1986 to 1996 participated by 137,479 individuals. Along with information on visual impairment details. the participants also supplied relevant information about their other health conditions.

After an 11-year follow-up, the researchers were able to record 200 deaths. “After controlling for survey design, age, sex, race, marital status, number of non-ocular health conditions and self- rated health, the direct effect of visual impairment on death from suicide was elevated (increased by 50 percent) but not significant:’ the researchers noted. “In summary, we observed that reported visual impairment increased suicide risk, particularly indirectly via reported health status and health conditions’

Given this, the researchers concluded that an improvement in treatments of visual impairment and other contributing factors to poor health condition can significantly reduce the risk of suicide.