Rehabilitation of hospital inpatients with visual impairments and disabilities from systemic illness

Objectives To describe the comorbidity of visual impairment and disability among patients hospitalized for systemic illness and to discuss rehabilitation. Design Retrospective study. Setting Hospital-based, academic tertiary medical center with referring neurology, ophthalmology, and rehabilitation units. Participants Ninety-three hospitalized patients referred to the low vision rehabilitation clinic primarily by the physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology units. Interventions Measurements of best-corrected visual acuity and other visual function testing. Referrals were made for prescriptive glasses, assistive devices, rehabilitation, resources, and ophthalmologic evaluation. Main outcome measures Specialized services, presence of comorbidities, and visual function measurements. Results The mean admitting visual acuity revealed a moderate visual impairment. The primary diagnosis for admission (51%) was cerebrovascular accidents. There was a mean of 3.5 other comorbidities. Conclusions The majority of patients admitted to the hospital for systemic diseases also had visual impairments. In many patients, this visual disability (either from the systemic and/or ocular disease) interfered with their activities of daily living.