Poverty not sight loss is debilitating factor

Poverty not sight loss explains the low quality of life for visually impaired people according to the results of a new study.

Commissioned by the Thomas Pocklington Trust charity, the research challenges the popular assumption that sight loss causes depression and low quality of life, revealing that these could be more to do with people's low incomes, ill health and lack of social participation.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Manchester School of Social Sciences, investigated factors that influence well-being in older people with vision impairment. While confirming that there is a dramatic association between vision and poor quality of life, it found that this is entirely explained by the health, economic and social inequalities people with sight loss experience.