Association between Peripheral Vision and Walking Ability in Older Adults

Purpose: This study aimed to clarify how vision influences walking ability and provide fall prevention recommendations for older adults. Methods: Forty-four community-dwelling older adults (10 men and 34 women; mean age: 75.79 years) and 45 healthy younger adults (22 men and 23 women; mean age 20.32 years) without visual function or walking difficulties were included. The peripheral vision of both the younger and older adults was evaluated. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) and 10-m obstacle walking tests were conducted to assess the walking ability of the older participants. Results: The comparison of hand-eye coordination movements between the younger and older adults showed that the older adults had significantly longer execution times (p = 0.001). Age (r = 0.51, p Conclusions: A significant association was indicated between hand-eye coordination movements and gait speed in older adults. In the future, combining a visual function assessment with training for enhancing peripheral vision may offer a novel and effective fall prevention approach for older adults.