Abstract
Purpose :
We evaluated the impact of glasses wear on children and their families, using the newly-developed, patient- and parent-derived Pediatric Eye Questionnaires (PedEyeQ) to assess functional vision and eye-related quality of life (ER-QOL).
Methods :
We prospectively enrolled 30 children (median 10.5 years old, range 2 to 17) with glasses correction for refractive error (no other eye condition); median spherical equivalent -1.50 diopters, range -15.375 to +7.00 diopters, and 58 visually normal children without glasses (median 7 years old, 0 to 16), along with one parent for each child. Children >5 years old completed the Child PedEyeQ containing five domains. All parents completed the Proxy PedEyeQ containing five domains and Parent PedEyeQ containing four domains. Each domain within Child, Proxy and Parent questionnaires was Rasch-scored (converted to 0-100), and median scores compared between children wearing glasses and normals using Wilcoxon tests.
Results :
Children wearing glasses had lower (worse) Child PedEyeQ scores than normals on Functional Vision 85 vs 100; P=0.002, Bothered by Eyes/Vision 85 vs 100; P=0.0003, and Frustration/Worry 89 vs 100; P=0.006. Scores on the Child Social domain were similar (98 vs 100; P=0.3). For the Proxy PedEyeQ, scores were lower for children with glasses for the Functional Vision domain, Bothered by Eyes/Vision, Frustration/Worry, and Eye-care (P<0.05 for each). For the Parent PedEyeQ, scores were significantly lower for glasses wearers across all domains: Impact on parent/family: 95 vs 100, Worry about eye condition 75 vs 100, Worry about self-perception 93 vs 100, Worry about functional vision 87 vs 100 (P<0.0001 for each).
Conclusions :
Using the patient- and parent-derived PedEyeQ, children wearing glasses for refractive error have reduced ER-QOL and functional vision compared with visually normal children. In addition, parents of children wearing glasses have poorer quality of life than parents of visually normal children. Prescribers of glasses should be aware of the impact of glasses on children and their parents.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.