Reducing avoidable visual impairment in elderly home healthcare patients by basic ophthalmologic screening.

Sixty per cent of frail elderly home healthcare patients had an ophthalmologic condition. Although a large number was already known in eye health care, >20% was referred with an unrecognized ophthalmologic problem. Basic ophthalmologic screening by home healthcare nurses might be a potentially relevant tool to reduce the burden of age-related vision loss, contributing to the joint World Health Organization - VISION 2020 initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. Relevant health outcomes do not seem to be clearly related to having visual impairment, but rather to having general health problems.