US Adults With Vision Impairment

Introduction Adults with vision impairment (VI) have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with those without VI. We estimated the prevalence of CVD and CVD risk factors by VI status in US adults. Methods We used nationally representative data from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey (N = 22,890 adults aged >= 18 years). We estimated the prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of CVD (coronary heart disease [including angina and myocardial infarc-tion], stroke, or other heart disease) by VI status. We used separ-ate logistic regression models to generate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs), controlling for sociodemographic covariates, for those with VI (reference group, no VI) for CVD and CVD risk factors: current smoking, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol intake, obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Results Overall, 12.9% (95% CI, 12.3-13.5) of the sample had VI. The prevalence of CVD was 26.6% (95% CI, 24.7-28.6) in people with VI versus 12.2% (95% CI, 11.7-12.8) in those without VI (aPR = 1.65 [95% CI, 1.51-1.80]). Compared with adults without VI, those with VI had a higher prevalence of all risk factors ex-amined: current smoking (aPR = 1.40 [95% CI, 1.27-1.53]), phys-ical inactivity (aPR = 1.14 [95% CI, 1.06-1.22]), excessive alco-hol intake (aPR = 1.29 [95% CI, 1.08-1.53]), obesity (aPR = 1.28 [95% CI, 1.21-1.36]), hypertension (aPR = 1.29 [95% CI, 1.22-1.36]), high cholesterol (aPR = 1.21 [95% CI, 1.14-1.29]), and diabetes (aPR = 1.54 [95% CI, 1.38-1.72]). Conclusion Adults with VI had a higher prevalence of CVD and CVD risk factors compared with those without VI. Effective clinical and lifestyle interventions, adapted to accommodate VI-related chal-lenges, may help reduce CVD risk in adults with VI.