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Social determinants of health (SDOH) are associated with severe visual impairment (SVI), according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology. Employment status, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and health care coverage all correlated with higher odds of SVI.
There are 32 million Americans who have reported blindness or difficulty seeing despite glasses or contact lens use, making visual impairment one of the most common disabilities in the United States. SDOH have been found to be associated with the risk of visual disability and its consequences. The aim of this study was to use the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to evaluate SDOH and their association with increased odds of self-reported SVI.
Data from January 2019 to December 2020 were obtained from the BRFSS Web Enabled Analysis Tool. Independent variables were selected in demographic information, health care access, healthy days, and chronic health conditions categories. The responses to the survey questions represented self-identified data.
There were 820,226 participants in the BRFSS survey; 53.07% were female, and 5.17% self-identified as blind or having serious difficulty seeing. The demographic factors analysis included 633,866 participants.