Health‐related behaviours and visual impairment among people aged 50 years and older in Gegharkunik province of Armenia: rapid assessment of avoidable blindness survey.

Purpose: This study assessed the prevalence of visual impairment (VI) and the association between VI and health‐related behaviours in population aged 50 years and older in Gegharkunik province of Armenia. Methods: Twenty‐four clusters with 50 people in each were sampled for the interviewer‐administered survey in Gegharkunik in 2019. Ophthalmic examination assessed presenting and pinhole corrected visual acuity using Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness methodology. The structured questionnaire collected information about participants' socio‐demographics, body mass index, self‐assessed general health status, utilisation of eye services, presence of chronic non‐communicable diseases, and health‐related behaviours (smoking, physical activity and alcohol consumption). Results: The mean age of participants was 64.8 (SD = 10.2), ranging from 50 to 97. Women constituted 62.4% of the sample. About 26% of participants had mild to severe VI and 2% were blind. Approximately 58% of participants were physically inactive or insufficiently active. Most of the respondents never used alcohol (62.5%), while 33.4% were moderate and 4.1% were heavy alcohol users. After adjusting for health characteristics and health‐related behaviours, being physically inactive or insufficiently active was associated with VI in the first logistic regression model. Advanced age and self‐assessed "poor" general health status were associated with VI after adjusting for demographics, health characteristics and health‐related behaviours. Moderate alcohol consumption had protective effect on VI in both models. Conclusion: The prevalence of VI in this population was higher compared to the global rate and estimates from the European region. Regular ophthalmic examination and public health interventions might reduce VI and improve health‐related behaviours among target population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]