Association between visual impairment and depression in the elderly: a systematic review

A systematic review was conducted to investigate the relationship between visual impairment and depression in the elderly. We searched electronic databases (LILACS, SciELO, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) from inception to August 2014 and researched the described references. The search strategy used the following terms: (visual impairment or blindness) and (elderly) and (depression). Of the 641 electronics, 42 works were selected in full and another 20 were identified as being possibly relevant. Ten studies were included. The studies ranged in sample size from 31 to 21,995 participants. Depression was associated with visual impairment in all studies; however, without standardization of diagnostic tests, we could not conduct a meta-analysis or establish a relationship between visual impairment and depression in the elderly.