Abstract
Purpose :
Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) is one of the most established corneal refractive surgeries in the world. While there is strong evidence for visual function improvement following LASIK, it remains unclear whether LASIK also improves quality of life (QOL). We performed a prospective, cohort study to investigate whether LASIK improves health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and to identify factors that affect postoperative HRQoL.
Methods :
A total of 213 Japanese patients who underwent primary LASIK were analysed in this study. The average age was 35.0 ± 9.4 years old. Subjects were asked to answer questions regarding QOL (using the Japanese SF-36v2), at 3 time points: before LASIK, 1 month after LASIK, and 6 months after LASIK. Longitudinal change over 6 month in the mental component summary (MCS) score and the physical component summary (PCS) score outputs from the SF-36v2 questionnaire were compared between time points using a linear mixed-effects model. Delta MCS and PCS were calculated by subtracting the postoperative score (1 month after LASIK) from the preoperative score. We evaluated preoperative and postoperative factors associated with a change in MCS score or PCS score via linear regression model.
Results :
Of the 213 subjects who responded to the preoperative SF-36 questionnaire, 212 subjects (99.5%) responded to the SF-36 at 1 month after surgery, and 114 subjects (53.5%) responded at 6 months. Preoperative MCS score was 51.0 ± 9.4, and increased to 52.0 ± 9.8 and 51.5 ± 9.6 at 1 and 6 months after LASIK, and a trend for the change from baseline in MCS through 6 month was significant (p=0.03). PCS score did not change following LASIK. Delta MCS was significantly negatively associated with preoperative spherical equivalent, axial length, postoperative severity of halo, glare, double vision, and dry eye sensation after adjusting for age, gender, axial length, presence of systemic disease, BUT, pupil diameter, and fluorescein score. No preoperative or postoperative factors were associated with delta PCS.
Conclusions :
LASIK significantly improves mental HRQoL. Preoperative axial length may predict postoperative mental HRQoL.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.