Visual Correlates of Mobility in Real World Settings in Older Adults with Low Vision

Middle-old and old-old retirement dwelling adults respond differently to locomotor challenges in cluttered environments

“…In response to the LOW lighting condition, both the age groups adopted a decreased speed strategy. This particular strategy has been reported in related literature as a typical response to decreased ambient lighting during obstacle course navigation [11,17]. Decreased walking speed has been attributed to a more cautious gait pattern in order to reduce the risk of instability possibly resulting in a fall [6] and in response to obstacles along the travel path [18,19].…”

“…Section three consisted of three white and three black obstacles. The rationale for varying obstacle contrasts by sections was based on the hypothesis that participants would make less contact with obstacles of high contrast (white obstacles on grey carpet) versus low contrast (black obstacles on grey carpet) and that low contrast obstacles would be more difficult to avoid, especially in a reduced lighting environment [10,11]. The obstacles were constructed from foam making them durable and not harmful to the participants if contacted.…”

“…Obstacle course paradigms have been used to investigate the mobility of persons with visual disorders [10,11] and community dwelling older males with a falls history (<85 years old [12]) but has yet to be applied to a general healthy older (>85 years) population residing in a supportive care facility. This is despite the fact that the incidence of falls causing injury is more frequent in institutional dwelling older adult populations compared to their home dwelling counterparts [13].…”

Control strategies used by older adults during multiple obstacle avoidance

“…Elliott et al [8] found that young adults were less successful when navigating an obstacle course in reduced lighting environments, however, the researchers were unable to determine whether this was due to a reduction in contrast or illumination levels. Another study showed that low vision is correlated with poor performance on a functional obstacle course [9]. Important insight into COM control strategies used by older adults under changing visual situations could be obtained if an obstacle course paradigm which contained obstacles of different contrasts were presented in both normal and low lighting situations.…”

Screening for visual impairment in elderly patients with hip fracture: validating a simple bedside test

“…20,21 Furthermore, visual impairment impacts on a wide range of objective and subjective measures of functional status, including those measures which are not actually vision dependant, such as psychological well being. 16,18,[22][23][24][25] One of the principle aims of the current study was to develop a simple bedside screening test that could be incorporated into the rehabilitation package offered to patients who fall sustaining a fractured neck of femur. While not without its limitations, high-contrast Snellen visual acuity is still deemed to be a useful indicator of the ability of an older patient to perform a range of visiondependant daily living tasks.…”