Comparative analysis of the quality of life among different retinal diseases

Abstract

Aims/Purpose: To assess the difference and repercussions on the quality of life (QoL) among different retinal diseases such as diabetic macular oedema (DME), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), pathologic myopia (PM), neovascular age‐related macular degeneration (nAMD) and central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).Methods: A cross‐sectional study was carried out in 241 patients, affected by DME (n = 44), RVO (n = 41), PM (n = 34) and nAMD (n = 85) receiving intravitreal injections due to the presence of macular oedema or choroidal neovascularization. The CSC patients included (n = 37) were those with persistent subretinal fluid candidates for laser treatment. The patients included completed the National Eye Visual Functioning Questioning‐25 (NEI VFQ‐25). Best eye visual acuity (BEVA) was recorded through the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) scale.Results: There were significant differences between subgroups for all the domains, except for the general vision in which all scores among diseases ranged from 40.7 to 45.2 out of 100 (p = 0.436), despite the difference in the mean BEVA (CSC: 86.3 ± 11.9; RVO: 78.5 ± 15.5, DME: 73.3 ± 15.2, nAMD: 72.9 ± 12.6 and PM: 68.5 ± 18.1 letters respectively; p < 0.001). The lowest VFQ‐25 total score was observed in the PM patients (52.1 ± 20.9), followed by nAMD (55.3 ± 20.8), RVO (65.0 ± 22.3), DME (68.6 ± 21.0) and CSC (70.9 ± 16.2). The DME group reported the worst score for general health (38.9 ± 21.4), having the CSC patients the highest general health score. Mental health and role difficulties were lowest for PM (48.2 ± 28.8 and 48.2 ± 31.9, p < 0.007).Conclusions: This study reveals the differences in the QoL among the main retinal diseases such as DME, RVO, nAMD, PM and CSC, describing the different repercussions that they can suffer, observing higher impact in PM and nAMD.Keywords: quality of life; NEI VFQ‐25; age‐related macular degeneration; diabetic retinopathy; central serous chorioretinopathy; high myopia; retinal vein occlusion.