Association Between Vision Impairment and Suicidal Ideation Among Older Adults: Results from National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Background: Vision impairment (VI) is a significant risk factor for depression among older adults. The stigma attached to VI, which has multidimensional aspects consisting of ageism and ableism, may constitute a major impediment to accepting one's VI and engaging in help-seeking behaviors, which could have led to suicide prevention.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the relative strength of association for VI on suicidal ideation among a nationally representative sample of older adults.

Methods: The study sample was composed of 10,635 adults aged 65 years and over, drawn from the 2015-2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Respondents were asked if they had serious thoughts about suicide in the past year.

Results: Of the total sample, 6.85% reported VI (n = 729), defined as being blind or having serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses. In comparison to those without VI, older adults with VI were more likely to report impoverished sociodemographic status and poor health conditions. After adjusting for a comprehensive set of covariates, multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that older adults with VI were more likely to report suicidal ideation, compared to their counterparts without VI (OR = 3.12, 95% CI [1.24, 7.85]. p < 0. 05). Of the covariates, major depressive episodes presented the strongest positive association with suicidal ideation (OR = 14.11, 95% CI [8.93, 22.29], p < 0. 05).

Discussion: This study contributes to the scant body of literature by identifying the relative strength of association between VI and suicide in a nationally representative sample.