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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Effectiveness of screening older people for impaired vision in community setting
— systematic review of evidence from randomised controlled trials | | Author(s) | Liam Smeeth, Steve Iliffe |
| Journal title | British Medical Journal, vol 316, no 7132, 28 February 1998 |
| Pages | pp 660-663 |
| Keywords | Visual impairment ; Screening ; General practice ; Research Reviews. |
| Annotation | Concern about undetected visual problems in older people increased when sight fees were introduced in 1990. Since then, general practitioners (GPs) have been required to offer an annual screening assessment to all patients aged 75 and over, including vision. A systematic search of Medline for randomised controlled trials evaluating screening for older people found 2,264 citations; 147 articles were reviewed in detail. There were no trials that primarily assessed for visual screening. Outcome data were available for 3,494 people in five trials of multiphasic assessment; all used self-reported measures for vision impairment, both as screening tools and outcome measurements. The inclusion of a visual screening component in the assessments did not result in improvements in self-reported visual problems. Evidence for effectiveness of visual screening is lacking, but a small beneficial effect (for a reduction of 11% in numbers of those with visual impairment) cannot be excluded. The continued inclusion of screening for impaired vision in screening programmes for older people is not supported by the evidence. Further work is needed to clarify appropriate interventions for older people with unreported visual impairment. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980623224 A |
| Classmark | BR: 3V: L5: 3A:6KC * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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