Health of People with Sight Loss

About the study

NatCen were commissioned by RNIB to produce a report looking at the health of people with sight loss, using Health Survey for England data. 

This report presents findings on health outcomes and health-related behaviours of people with sight loss. The data are based on a representative sample of adults aged 16 and over who participated in the Health Survey for England (HSE) between 2015 and 2019. Comparisons are made between those with sight loss and those without sight loss.

Around 1.9 million people in England (approximately 3 per cent of the population) are living with sight loss. Sight loss can have an impact on many areas of people’s lives, including overall quality of life, and mental and physical health, as well as health-related behaviours such as physical activity.

Findings 

• Overall, 4 per cent of adults in England reported experiencing sight loss.
• Adults with sight loss were around five times more likely to have bad or very bad general health compared with adults with no sight loss (34 per cent and 7 per cent respectively).
• 62 per cent of adults with sight loss and other impairments, and 28 per cent of adults with sight loss only were taking four or more medications (compared with 8 per cent of adults with no sight loss or other impairments).
• Adults with sight loss were around three times more likely to report low life satisfaction (24 per cent) than adults with no sight loss (8 per cent).
• A higher proportion of adults with sight loss reported being current cigarette smokers compared with adults with no sight loss (22 per cent and 17 per cent respectively).
• 11 per cent of those with sight loss drank at increased risk levels (between 14 and 35/50 units of alcohol per week, depending on sex), compared with 19 per cent of adults with no sight loss.
• Adults with sight loss were almost twice as likely to be ‘inactive’ compared with those with no sight loss (46 per cent compared with 26 per cent).
• Those with sight loss were over three times more likely to have diabetes than those with no sight loss (24 per cent compared with 7 per cent).

Methodology 

The Health Survey for England (HSE) asks questions about people’s health and behaviours, including whether they have any health conditions and if these conditions impact areas of their health, including their sight. This information was used to code participants into groups based on whether they had experienced sight loss or not. Due to the low overall prevalence of sight loss, data from five HSE years (2015 to 2019) were combined to produce a dataset for analysis. This dataset was then used to produce a report with the aim of establishing whether and how the health outcomes and health-related behaviours of people with sight loss differ from people without sight loss.