Proceedings of: Workshop on Improving Building Design for Persons with Low Vision

Frequency Distribution of Health Problems

But when you ask them about their health, they have all the same diseases that anybody in that age group would have (slide 52). They report diabetes, heart problems, heart attacks, high blood pressure, neurological problems. Back pain is a real common one. Thirty-percent said they have back pain.

These co-morbidities that you have to consider [as part of] the overall health burden that this population has. And you’re adding a visual impairment on top of all the bricks they’re carrying. So the effects of visual impairment in this population can be magnified compared to the effects in a younger population. A lot of times compensation is more difficult, because of the other things they’re dealing with.