A 2010 University of Michigan Health System study found that seniors with untreated visual disorders are significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Mary A.M. Rogers, Ph.D., a research assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in an article appearing on the University of Michigan website that “Visual problems can have serious consequences and are very common among the elderly, but many of them are not seeking treatment.”
Rogers and her collegaue, Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medical at the University of Michigan Medical School, used Medicare data for their study and found that seniors with poor vision who visited an opthalmologist at least once for an exam were 64 percent less likely to develop dementia.
More specifically, the study found that surgery to correct cataracts, glaucoma treatments and retinal disorder treatments were all significantly helpful in lowering the risk of dementia amongst the elderly.
It makes sense that this study found seniors receiving treatment for visual impairments and conditions were less likely to have dementia. An article summarizing the study in the University of Michigan website says that “proper vision is a requirement for many of the activities that have previously have been found to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” Many of these studies can be found on the Engage As You Age website’s “Why Engage” page.
Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, is something that Engage As You Age is very familiar with. Our social visits to seniors that live in assisted living facilities in San Francisco (and other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area) or those Bay Area seniors that want to remain in their own homes are a great way to keep an elder engaged.
