Grant: Project Grant

Vision loss is a major cause of decreased quality of life. Despite this, until our recent work, Canada had very limited information on the frequency of visual impairment. Our work used data from The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a valuable resource including over 30,000 middle and older aged adults from 7 Canadian provinces. Using these data, we reported in 2018 that 5.7% of Canadian adults ages 45-85 years old had visual impairment. We were unable to determine the frequency of eye disease because the CLSA does not include a comprehensive eye exam by an ophthalmologist or optometrist so the data on eye diseases like cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy are based entirely on self-report, which is known to have limited accuracy. Therefore, it would significantly enhance the CLSA data if eye disease could be determined from provincial health administrative records. Furthermore, the CLSA has collected retinal image data although it has not yet been graded. We propose to use automated software to grade these images for characteristics like retinal vessel width, which may indicate not only eye disease but also brain disease. We will then use this information to better understand whether eye disease influences the risk of cognitive decline, stroke, and poor balance. Our work will turn the CLSA from a good resource for vision research into a phenomenal resource, not only for Canadians but for the world.