Hispanic and Latino adults with multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors are more likely to experience visual impairment, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open and announced on June 29 by Dr. Charlotte Joslin, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Joslin examined vision and cardiovascular health data from over 3,000 Hispanic/Latino adults as part of the Study of Latinos "Ojos" (SOL Eye) study. The research found an association between common cardiovascular disease risk factors—including diabetes—and impaired vision among participants. "Normally, we tend to think of eye health as distinct from the rest of the body. These results reveal a relationship between cardiovascular disease risk factors and visual impairment," said Joslin.
The six-year SOL Eye study analyzed data from 3,294 adults aged 40 and older living in Chicago and Miami. All participants were part of the larger Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos cohort funded by the National Institutes of Health. Participants identified as Central American, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South American or another unspecified background. Each received comprehensive eye examinations that could identify eye diseases even when corrective eyewear was outdated or absent.
Researchers also assessed each participant for diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking status and high blood pressure—factors known to increase cardiovascular disease risk. Joslin said participants with three or four such risk factors were more likely to be visually impaired than those with one or none: "If you were just diagnosed with diabetes, that's one risk factor. But many of these risk factors tend to go together. This study tells us that people who have three risk factors—for example, diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension—have a much greater risk for visual impairment than those with just one risk factor." Differences also emerged among subgroups; men identifying as Mexican were four to six times more likely than other groups to experience visual impairment.
Socioeconomic status also played a role; lower educational levels and income, as well as limited access to healthcare, were associated with higher rates of visual impairment among participants who preferred Spanish over English.
Joslin emphasized that while associations between cardiovascular disease risks and eye health were identified in this population-based sample, they are not necessarily causal relationships.
