Varin, Melanie2018-07-032020-07-032018-07-03http://hdl.handle.net/10393/37812http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-22072Much attention is being expended to better understand the causes of cognitive impairment. The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether sensory deprivation, in particular vision loss due to age-related eye disease, is related to cognitive function in older adults, and if so, why. The epidemiological evidence thus far is conflicting and has some limitations such as using cognitive tests that rely on vision or only using a single global cognitive test. This thesis examined the relationship between eye disease and cognition by using several cognitive tests that do not rely on vision and by studying vision loss due to two different eye diseases that are common in old age. Our hypothesis was that people with glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration (AMD) would have worse cognitive function on all six cognitive tests and that these relationships would be explained by their more limited involvement in cognitive activities. This work used baseline data from a 2-year prospective hospital-based cohort study of 235 older adults. We found that older adults with AMD and glaucoma participated in fewer activities at least once per month compared to older adults with normal vision after adjustment for demographic and health variables (β=-4.8, 95% CI= -6.8, -2.8) and (β=-2.6, 95% CI= -4.3, -0.9), respectively. Furthermore, we found that AMD was associated with lower verbal fluency letter scores (β=-2.2, 95% CI= -4.1, -0.3) while glaucoma was related to worse immediate and delayed recall of items on the logical memory story (β=-1.7, 95% CI= -3.1, -0.4) and (β=-1.5, 95% CI= -2.9, -0.1). These associations were all attenuated by the addition of cognitive activities to the models, which may indicate its role as a mediator. Longitudinal studies are needed to provide more rigorous evidence. If confirmed in prospective studies, efforts to improve cognitive activities and cognitive function could be targeted specifically at older adults with vision loss.enEye diseaseCognitionEpidemiologyThesis