Vision loss associated with work status
- Date:
- July 17, 2014
- Source:
- The JAMA Network Journals
- Summary:
- Vision loss is associated with a higher likelihood of not working, researchers report. Also, people who do not work have poorer physical and mental health, are less socially integrated and have lower self-confidence, they say.
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Vision loss is associated with a higher likelihood of not working, researchers report. Also, people who do not work have poorer physical and mental health, are less socially integrated and have lower self-confidence, they say.
The authors analyzed employment rates by vision impairment in a nationally representative sample of working-age Americans.
The study included 19,849 participants in the 1999-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who completed a vision examination and employment/demographic questionnaires. Employment rates for men with visual impairment, uncorrected refractive error (difficulty focusing the eye) and normal vision were 58.7 percent, 66.5 percent and 76.2 percent, respectively. For women, the respective rates were 24.5 percent, 56 percent and 62.9 percent. The odds of not working for participants with visual impairment were higher for women, those individuals younger than 55 years and people with diabetes.
"The cross-sectional nature of our study makes it difficult to conclude that poor vision was causative with regards to work status. Indeed, it is quite possible that URE (uncorrected refractive error) is the result of limited income from not working," researchers note.
Story Source:
Materials provided by The JAMA Network Journals. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Cheryl E. Sherrod, MD, MPH; Susan Vitale, PhD, MHS; Kevin D. Frick, PhD; Pradeep Y. Ramulu, MD, MHS, PhD. Association of Vision Loss and Work Status in the United States. JAMA Ophthalmology, July 2014 DOI: 10.1001/.jamaopthalmol.2014.2213
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