Georgia Injury Law Blog
Single Focal Lenses Could Minimize Slip and Fall Accident Risks in Elderly Persons
Wearing eyeglasses with multifocal lenses can actually increase an elderly person’s risk of suffering a fall accident when he or she is outdoors. Therefore, senior citizens, who spend a lot of time outdoors, may be better served if they shift to single focal lenses. Those findings come via a study conducted by Australian researchers at Sydney’s Prince Of Wales Medical Research Institute.
The researchers studied a group of 606 senior citizens with an average age of 80, and gave half of them two pairs of glasses with single focal lenses. The remaining members of the group were asked to continue using their multifocal lenses as usual. Both groups were asked to record the number of fall accidents they suffered over a course of 13 months.
At the end of the study, researchers found that the risk of suffering a fall accident decreased by 8% in the case of the senior citizens who were using single focal lenses. However, this decrease amplified significantly when the elderly spent time outdoors at least three times a week. Among these persons, the risks of suffering a fall dropped by more than 40% if they were wearing single focal lenses.
This could be because when a person is wearing multifocal lenses while walking outside, his vision of the ground just ahead of him is blurred, thereby causing him to miss hazards, like a stone on the ground.. The person may not see the object, thereby suffering a fall.
Slip, trip and fall accidents involving the elderly are a special health concern for us. As Atlanta slip and fall accident lawyers, we believe that owners of both commercial and residential properties, should be taking more steps to accommodate the growing numbers of elderly citizens who will join the population as baby boomers age.