A second pair of distance-only glasses for older bifocal or progressive lens wearers may help prevent falls in some high-risk populations, according to results of a randomized trial.
For older adults at elevated fall risk, replacing multifocal glasses with single-vision ones for walking and outdoor activities led to a significant 40% reduction in incidence rate compared with the control group (1.26 versus 2.16 falls per person over 13 months) among those with an above-average level of outdoor activity, found Stephen R. Lord, PhD, of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues.
The intervention also led to a nonsignificant 8% reduction in falls among older adults at elevated fall risk overall (1.54 versus 1.66 per person over 13 months), the researchers found.
However, these results came at the expense of a nonsignificant 29% increase in falls with intervention versus usual care among those with little outdoor activity (1.81 versus 1.36 per person) as well as a rise in nonfall-related injuries, they reported online in BMJ.
Thus, patient selection with appropriate assessment and counseling may be key.
"Clinicians should be conservative in eyewear prescription, particularly in frail older people who do not often leave their homes," they wrote in the paper.
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