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Does visual impairment affect social ties in late life? Findings of a multicenter prospective cohort study in Germany

  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objective

To investigate how visual impairment affects social ties in late life longitudinally.

Design

Population-based prospective cohort study.

Setting

Individuals in old age were recruited via general practitioners’ offices (at six study centers) in Germany. They were interviewed every 18 months.

Participants

Individuals aged 75 years and above at baseline. Follow-up wave 2 (36 months after baseline, n=2,443) and wave 4 (72 months after baseline, n=1,618) were used for the analyses presented here.

Measurements

Social ties were assessed using the 14-item form of the questionnaire for social support (F-SozU K-14). Visual impairment was self-rated on a three level Likert scale (no impairment, mild visual impairment, or severe/profound visual impairment).

Results

Adjusting for sociodemographic factors, hearing impairment and comorbidity, fixed effects regressions revealed that the onset of mild visual impairment decreased the social support score, in particular the emotional support score. Additionally, the onset of mild hearing impairment decreased the social support score in men. Moreover, increasing age decreased the social support score in the total sample and in both sexes. Loss of spouse and increasing comorbidity did not affect the social support score.

Conclusion

Our results highlight the importance of visual impairment for social ties in late life. Consequently, appropriate strategies in order to delay visual impairment might help to maintain social ties in old age.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

    André Hajek, C. Brettschneider & H.-H. König

  2. Department of Primary Medical Care, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

    D. Lühmann, M. Eisele & M. Scherer

  3. Institute of General Practice, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    S. Mamone & B. Wiese

  4. Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty, Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    S. Weyerer & J. Werle

  5. Institute of General Practice, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany

    M. Pentzek & A. Fuchs

  6. Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    J. Stein, T. Luck & S. G. Riedel-Heller

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    H. Bickel & D. Weeg

  8. Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    K. Heser & W. Maier

  9. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    F. Jessen

  10. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany

    F. Jessen & W. Maier

Authors
  1. André Hajek
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  2. C. Brettschneider
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  3. D. Lühmann
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  4. M. Eisele
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  5. S. Mamone
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  7. S. Weyerer
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  8. J. Werle
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  9. M. Pentzek
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  10. A. Fuchs
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  11. J. Stein
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  12. T. Luck
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  13. H. Bickel
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  14. D. Weeg
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  15. K. Heser
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  16. F. Jessen
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  17. W. Maier
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  18. M. Scherer
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  19. S. G. Riedel-Heller
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  20. H.-H. König
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The Agecode Study Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to André Hajek.

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These authors contributed equally to this work

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Hajek, A., Brettschneider, C., Lühmann, D. et al. Does visual impairment affect social ties in late life? Findings of a multicenter prospective cohort study in Germany. J Nutr Health Aging 21, 692–698 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-016-0768-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-016-0768-0

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