Received 22 December 2005; accepted 4 April 2006. published online 21 September 2006.
Objective
To determine whether there is an association between age-related cataract and frailty that persists after controlling for visual acuity (VA) and comorbid conditions.
Design
Cross-sectional.
Participants
Two thousand three hundred seventy Beaver Dam Eye Study cohort members at 10-year (third) examination with cataract information. Ninety-nine percent of the population was Caucasian.
Methods
Medical history, blood pressures, height, weight, measures of frailty, and lens photographs were obtained during the study evaluation. Lens photographs were graded according to standardized protocols.
Main Outcome Measures
Four of frailty (gait time, peak expiratory flow rate, handgrip strength, chair stand) and an index combining all 4 measures.
Results
After controlling for age, age squared, comorbidity index, pack-years, sedentary lifestyle, education, and VA, nuclear cataract in women was not associated significantly with any frailty measures; in men, nuclear cataract was associated with slower gait time (P = 0.01) and a poorer frailty index score (P = 0.01) in multivariable analyses. Cortical cataract was associated in women with a lower peak expiratory flow rate (P<0.01) and in men with weaker handgrip strength (P = 0.02) and a poorer frailty index score (P≤0.01) in multivariable analyses. Posterior subcapsular cataract in women was associated significantly with a lower peak expiratory flow rate (P = 0.01). Nuclear and cortical cataract add significant information in explaining frailty index scores in men.
Conclusions
Three common types of age-related cataract are associated with some measures of frailty independent of VA and systemic comorbidities. It is possible that age-related cataract may be an indicator of general functional decline in older adults.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
Correspondence to Barbara E. K. Klein, MD, MPH, University of Wisconsin Madison, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, 610 North Walnut Street, 4th Floor WARF, Madison, WI 53726.
Manuscript no. 2005-1244.
There are neither commercial interests nor conflicts for any of the authors.
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant no.: EY06594 [RK, BEKK]), and in part by Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York (Senior Scientific Investigator awards [RK, BEKK]).
ABSTRACT