To the Editor: Healthy ageing is listed as a National Research Priority by the Australian Government. The higher prevalence of sensory, cognitive and mobility impairments in older people presents a major challenge in achieving this goal. The effects of single impairments are recognised,1,2 but the cumulative effects of multiple impairments have not been reported from population-based samples.
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- Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
Correspondence: jiejin_wang@wmi.usyd.edu.au
- 1. Reuben DB, Mui S, Damesyn M, et al. Combined hearing and visual impairment and depression in a population aged 75 years and older. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002; 17: 808-813.
- 2. Lupsakko T, Mantyjarvi M, Kautiainen H, et al. The prognostic value of sensory impairment in older persons. J Am Geriatr Soc 1999; 47: 930-935.
- 3. Foran S, Rose K, Wang JJ, Mitchell P. Correctable visual impairment in an older population: the Blue Mountains Eye Study. Am J Ophthalmol 134: 712-719.
- 4. Sanson-Fisher RW, Perkins JJ. Adaptation and validation of the SF-36 Health Survey for use in Australia. J Clin Epidemiol 1998; 51: 961-967.
- 5. Fryback DG, Dasbach EJ, Klein R, et al. The Beaver Dam Health Outcomes Study: initial catalog of health-state quality factors. Med Decis Making 1993; 13: 89-102.
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