Abstract
Purpose: :
Evaluate quality of life and vision in 150 patients older than 80 years old.
Methods: :
Patients were divided in: Group 1: 70 patients between 80 and 89 years (83 ± 4.2); Group 2: 50 patients between 90 and 99 years ( 92±2.7) and Group 3: 30 patients over 100 years (101±1.7). Their visual acuity was correlated with the quality of life and vision assessed by questionnaires SF-36 (Quality of Life "Short Form" - 36) and VFQ-25 (Vision Functioning Questionnaire - 25).
Results: :
The initial Best Corrected Far Visual Acuity in the best eye was 20/40 in 47%, 20% and zero% of the patients. The percentages of bilateral blindness (< 20/400) were 5.8%, 8% and 23.3%. The initial Best Corrected Near Visual Acuity in the best eye was 20/40 or better in 75%, 58% and 26.7%. The three age groups showed a lack of significant correlation at the SF-36 scores. Considering their visual acuity, most of the scores at the SF-36 and VQ-25 did not show statically significant differences according to age groups. The near vision (VQ-25 score) showed significant difference when taking into account different age groups and different visual acuity groups. When considering the whole sample together and comparing the range answers in different visual acuity domains, there were significant correlations at the SF-36 and VQ-25.
Conclusions: :
Visual acuity, especially for reading, had an important impact in their quality of life perception. Evidences in this research imply that the level of vision matters more than the specific age and suggests that vision improvements in very old people lead to higher levels of life quality, even after 100 years of age.
Keywords: aging • quality of life • visual acuity