Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the impact of visual impairment on life quality of the elderly population living in the western countryside of Pernambuco State , Brazil .
Methods: :
434 subjects over 59 years of age were interviewed, using the Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ). All subjects underwent complete eye examination. Visual Acuity (VA) was obtained with ETDRS (Early treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study) charts, and classified in normal and impaired vision. The results of the quantitative parameters were expressed by mean ± SD. The results of categorical parameters were expressed by their frequencies.
Results: :
About 70% of the subjects reported to have regular or bad health state and 79.3% reported to have regular or impaired vision. The VFQ mean score of the subjects with normal VA was significantly higher comparing with those with impaired vision VA (79.8 versus 73.0 - p = 0,004). There was significant difference among the elderly with normal vision and those with impaired vision on the following domains: color vision, peripheral vision, near activities, distant activities, daily activities, and social aspects. In all these domains, the elderly with impaired vision presented worst quality of life. About 30% of the subjects had visual impairment in the better eye, worst than 20/60. When questioned about the vision state, 67% of the subjects who reported to have good or excellent vision, presented normal VA; while the elderly who reported to have bad or very bad vision, 41.2% had impaired vision. This association between the visual condition and the question about vision quality was significant (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: :
Patients with impaired vision had worst quality of life as compared with those with normal VA. The visual condition had significant association with the vision quality as reported by the subjects.
Keywords: aging: visual performance • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology • visual acuity