Visually impaired up to four times more prone to mental health problems
Visually impaired people are more likely to suffer anxiety or depression than those without eyesight problems, and symptoms are most common among those with the greatest impairment.
Those are the findings from the charity Sightsavers, which investigated links between vision and mental health in almost 4,000 individuals aged 50 or over from Kogi state, Nigeria.
Symptoms of anxiety and depression were twice as common among those with moderate visual impairment or worse, compared with those without eyesight loss. They were 2.7 times as likely among those with severe visual impairment (SVI) and four times as likely among the blind.
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The College has issued guidance, following the recent MHRA drug safety update, which has drawn attention to a very rare risk of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) associated with weight loss drugs.