Sydney, Oct 13 - Vision problems that cannot be corrected are linked to heightened risk of death among people between the ages of 49 and 74 years.

These findings are based on data from the Blue Mountain Eye Study that examined 3,654 participants aged 49 years and older, between 1992 and 1994 and after five and 10 years.

The study was led by Michael J. Karpa of Westmead Millennium Institute, Sydney, and colleagues to evaluate the greater risk of death among older people with visual impairment.

By the end of the study, 1,273 participants had died. A higher risk of dying was associated with non-correctable visual impairment, with a stronger association for participants younger than age 75, according to a Westmead Millennium release.

The analyses "revealed greater effects of non-correctable visual impairment on mortality risk, with both direct and indirect effects," the authors write.

"Of mortality risk markers examined, only disability in walking demonstrated a significant indirect pathway for the link between visual impairment and mortality.

"This study reaffirms that visual impairment is associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality."

The findings were published in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. (IANS)