Association of Visual Impairment With Medication Adherence and Unintentional Nonadherence Behaviors in Older Adults With Chronic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.
- 1Department of Geriatrics, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
- 2Department of Nursing, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND Visual impairment can hinder medication self-management in older adults, but severity-specific associations with adherence across chronic disease regimens are not well characterized. MATERIAL AND METHODS This single-center cross-sectional observational study included 100 consecutive outpatients older than 60 years with at least 1 chronic disease and long-term medication use at a tertiary geriatric clinic in 2024. Data were obtained through medical-record abstraction, nurse-administered interviews, and task-based observation at the index visit. Better-eye best-corrected visual acuity was categorized as normal vision or mild, moderate, or severe visual impairment. Adherence was assessed with the Chinese 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Study-specific unintentional nonadherence behaviors were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS Mean MMAS-8 scores declined from 7.32 (SD, 0.74) in normal vision to 6.09 (SD, 0.79), 5.21 (SD, 1.12), and 4.29 (SD, 1.52) in mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment, respectively (F=34.96, P<0.001). Conversely, low adherence increased from 3.7% in the normal-vision group to 45.0%, 71.4%, and 88.9% in the mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment groups, respectively. Adjusted odds ratios for low adherence were 3.45 (95% CI, 1.18-10.13), 8.72 (95% CI, 2.94-25.83), and 16.45 (95% CI, 4.21-64.23) for mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment versus normal vision. CONCLUSIONS Greater visual impairment severity was associated with lower adherence and more frequent exploratory indicators of unintentional medication-use difficulty. These cross-sectional, single-center findings are hypothesis-generating and require prospective validation.
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BibTeX
@article{shen2026association,
title = {{Association of Visual Impairment With Medication Adherence and Unintentional Nonadherence Behaviors in Older Adults With Chronic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.}},
author = {Qi Shen and Xianhong Zeng and Li Yu},
journal = {Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.12659/msm.954346},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42892708},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Association of Visual Impairment With Medication Adherence and Unintentional Nonadherence Behaviors in Older Adults With Chronic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.
AU - Qi Shen
AU - Xianhong Zeng
AU - Li Yu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/18
JO - Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research
DO - 10.12659/msm.954346
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42892708
AB - BACKGROUND Visual impairment can hinder medication self-management in older adults, but severity-specific associations with adherence across chronic disease regimens are not well characterized. MATERIAL AND METHODS This single-center cross-sectional observational study included 100 consecutive outpatients older than 60 years with at least 1 chronic disease and long-term medication use at a tertiary geriatric clinic in 2024. Data were obtained through medical-record abstraction, nurse-administered interviews, and task-based observation at the index visit. Better-eye best-corrected visual acuity was categorized as normal vision or mild, moderate, or severe visual impairment. Adherence was assessed with the Chinese 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Study-specific unintentional nonadherence behaviors were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS Mean MMAS-8 scores declined from 7.32 (SD, 0.74) in normal vision to 6.09 (SD, 0.79), 5.21 (SD, 1.12), and 4.29 (SD, 1.52) in mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment, respectively (F=34.96, P<0.001). Conversely, low adherence increased from 3.7% in the normal-vision group to 45.0%, 71.4%, and 88.9% in the mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment groups, respectively. Adjusted odds ratios for low adherence were 3.45 (95% CI, 1.18-10.13), 8.72 (95% CI, 2.94-25.83), and 16.45 (95% CI, 4.21-64.23) for mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment versus normal vision. CONCLUSIONS Greater visual impairment severity was associated with lower adherence and more frequent exploratory indicators of unintentional medication-use difficulty. These cross-sectional, single-center findings are hypothesis-generating and require prospective validation.
SN - 1234-1010
SN - 1643-3750
ER -