“
“
WE’VE FOUND THAT AS
VISION GETS WORSE, SO TOO DOES COGNITIVE HEALTH. — Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H.
Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H.
Linking Vision Impairment and Cognition Blindness and visual impairment affect 1 in 11 Americans
individuals as they age. “We are implementing a new battery
age 65 and older. With the aging of the U.S. population, the
of vision tests in NHATS that will open the door to novel
number of older adults impacted by visual disability is expected
research to understand the role of vision on late-life health
to continue to increase rapidly over the next 30 years.
and disability,” says Dr. Ehrlich.
Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of
Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, along with colleagues at
ships among vision, cognition and aging led to his work with
the Kellogg Eye Center and the Institute for Social Research,
LASI-DAD. “In this study of 4,000 adults 60 and older across
is working to understand the impact of visual impairment on
18 states and territories in India, we’re trying to understand risk
the physical and cognitive health of an aging population.
factors for dementia, including the impact of visual impairment
“We’ve found that as vision gets worse, so too does cognitive
on brain health and whether the eye is a biomarker of future
health,” he says.
cognitive changes,” says Dr. Ehrlich. “We’ve found that lower
levels of vision are related to poorer cognitive performance
Drawing on population health and survey research,
Dr. Ehrlich’s research seeks to optimize the health of older
across all domains of cognition.” In addition, the study aims to
individuals and populations with visual impairment, both in
estimate the prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment.
the U.S. and globally. Some of his most exciting recent work
draws upon various epidemiologic studies, including the Nation-
scientific advances, Dr. Ehrlich and other researchers have
al Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the Diagnostic
recently established the SENSE Network (sensenetwork.org),
Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in
an international network of sensory aging researchers. This
India (LASI-DAD).
global collaboration is working to accelerate research examining
the role of sensory function — including vision — on health
The NHATS — a U.S.-based study of more than 8,000
adults 65 and older — examines health and disability in
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Dr. Ehrlich’s interest in better understanding the relation-
With the goal of fostering collaboration and catalyzing
and aging.
