TY - JOUR

T1 - Association between visual impairment and suicide

T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis

AU - Palbo, Amanda

AU - Rasmussen, Marie Louise Roed

AU - Hansen, Michael Stormly

AU - Subhi, Yousif

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Visual impairment severely impacts the life of the patients. In this study, we systematically reviewed studies on the potential relationship between visual impairment and suicidal behaviour, and conducted meta-analyses on the risk estimates. We searched 11 literature databases on 20 October 2022 and identified a total of 10 eligible studies with 5.8 million participants. Suicide behaviour was investigated according to three domains: suicide ideation, suicide attempt and suicide death. In the 10 eligible studies, seven reported data on suicide ideation, five reported data on suicide attempt, and three reported data on suicide death. All summary estimates extracted for use in the meta-analyses were adjusted estimates of association since we acknowledged that depression as well as other confounding factors may play an important role. We found that visual impairment was a significant risk factor of suicide ideation (OR 1.83; 95% CI: 1.40–2.40; p = 0.000012), suicide attempt (OR 2.62; 95% CI: 1.29–5.31; p = 0.0077) and suicide death (OR 7.00; 95% CI: 2.30–21.4; p = 0.000063). These high increases in risk of suicide from visual impairment underscore the importance of eye health on the overall mental health, and the potential devastating consequences of insufficient access to eye care, lack of treatment possibilities for any reason or low political priority of eye care.

AB - Visual impairment severely impacts the life of the patients. In this study, we systematically reviewed studies on the potential relationship between visual impairment and suicidal behaviour, and conducted meta-analyses on the risk estimates. We searched 11 literature databases on 20 October 2022 and identified a total of 10 eligible studies with 5.8 million participants. Suicide behaviour was investigated according to three domains: suicide ideation, suicide attempt and suicide death. In the 10 eligible studies, seven reported data on suicide ideation, five reported data on suicide attempt, and three reported data on suicide death. All summary estimates extracted for use in the meta-analyses were adjusted estimates of association since we acknowledged that depression as well as other confounding factors may play an important role. We found that visual impairment was a significant risk factor of suicide ideation (OR 1.83; 95% CI: 1.40–2.40; p = 0.000012), suicide attempt (OR 2.62; 95% CI: 1.29–5.31; p = 0.0077) and suicide death (OR 7.00; 95% CI: 2.30–21.4; p = 0.000063). These high increases in risk of suicide from visual impairment underscore the importance of eye health on the overall mental health, and the potential devastating consequences of insufficient access to eye care, lack of treatment possibilities for any reason or low political priority of eye care.

KW - meta-analysis

KW - risk

KW - suicide

KW - systematic review

KW - visual impairment

U2 - 10.1111/aos.15730

DO - 10.1111/aos.15730

M3 - Review

C2 - 37395145

AN - SCOPUS:85164106140

VL - 102

SP - 263

EP - 273

JO - Acta Ophthalmologica

JF - Acta Ophthalmologica

SN - 1755-375X

IS - 3

ER -