Author(s)

Toshio Hamagishi¹, Toshimitsu Inagawa¹, Yasuhiro Kambayashi¹, Hiromasa Tsujiguchi¹, Masami Kitaoka¹, Junko Mitoma¹, Hiroki Asakura¹, Fumihiko Suzuki¹, Daisuke Hori¹, Enoch Olando Anyenda¹, Nguyen Thi Thu Thao¹, Yuri Hibino¹, Koichi Hayashi², Aki Shibata³, Takiko Sagara⁴, Jiro Okochi⁵, Kiyoshi Takamoku⁵, Kotaro Hatta⁶, Tadashi Konoshita⁷, Hiroyuki Nakamura¹

¹Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
²Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, School of Human Environmental Sciences, Mukogawa Women’s University, Hyogo, Japan.
³Department of Lifestyle Studies, Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Hyogo, Japan.
⁴Department of Nutritional Sciences for Well-Being, Kansai University of Welfare Sciences, Osaka, Japan.
⁵Japan Association of Geriatric Health Service Facilities, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶Department of Psychiatry, Juntendo University Nerima Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷Third Department of Internal Medicine, Fukui University School of Medicine, Fukui, Japan.

Some clinical and epidemiological studies have suggested that Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and cataract, may share common pathogenetic mechanisms, subsequently a positive association between the prevalence of AD and cataract, although other studies found no significant relationship between dementia and visual impairment including cataract in the elderly. Little is known about the association between Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and the combination of AD and cataract. To examine the association between ADL and the combination of AD and cataract, we performed a national survey in nursing care institutions in Japan, examining the decreased ADL in elderly with and without AD and cataract for 453 elderly aged 85.0 ± 8.13 years. The proportion, 43.5% of AD in subjects without cataract was significantly higher than that, 23.5% with cataract. Almost all ADL in AD with cataract was significantly lower than that without cataract, although all ADL in cataract patients receiving surgery in AD was significantly (all p < 0.002) higher than that in cataract patients without surgery in AD, as was confirmed by the multiple regression analysis incorporating into the relevant factors as independent variables. These results showed that ADL scores including cognitive functions decreased by cataract were increased by the surgery in the patients with AD. A significantly negative association between AD and cataract seen in our data, which was inconsistent with the previous result, might lead to the necessities of the clinical diagnosis for slight severity of cataract for patients with AD.

Alzheimer’s Disease, Cataract, Elderly, Activity of Daily Living, Cognitive Function

Hamagishi, T. , Inagawa, T. , Kambayashi, Y. , Tsujiguchi, H. , Kitaoka, M. , Mitoma, J. , Asakura, H. , Suzuki, F. , Hori, D. , Anyenda, E. , Thao, N. , Hibino, Y. , Hayashi, K. , Shibata, A. , Sagara, T. , Okochi, J. , Takamoku, K. , Hatta, K. , Konoshita, T. and Nakamura, H. (2016) The Association between Activity of Daily Living and the Combination of Alzheimer’s Disease and Cataract in Elderly Requiring Nursing Care. Health, 8, 994-1003. doi: 10.4236/health.2016.810103.