Impact of Cataract Surgery on Quality of Life in Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the outcome of cataract surgery subjectively byassessing functional vision in terms of quality of life(QOL),activities of daily living (ADL), and patient’s satisfaction.Methodology: This was an observational and multicenteredstudy in which patients with age-related cataract who hadsurgery in Plateau State from 1st October 2002 – 31st March2003 constituted the population. The study instrument wasthe standardized Visual Function (VF-14) and Quality of Life(QOL) questionnaires developed by the Cataract PatientOutcome Research Team (PORT), and designed to measurethe impact of impaired vision on patient’s ability to performdaily activities. Patient’s satisfaction was assessed in relationto the hospital environment, friendliness of staff, nature ofsurgery and visual restoration.Result: Two hundred patients were recruited. One hundred andninety-nine (59.5%) of them were male and 81(40.5%) werefemale. About 34.5% of the study population were farmers, 97(48.5%) of them were blind and 183 (83.6%) eyes were blindpreoperatively. The mean preoperative visual function (VF)and quality of life (QOL) scores of the ninety-seven blindpatients were 15.2 (SD 3.9) and 22.4 (SD 4.5) respectively.There was a positive correlation between visual acuity (VA)and subjective visual function ( r = 0.92), and between VAand QOL ( r = 0.83). Functional vision improved aftercataract surgery; it was more remarkable among blindpatients with mean VF and QOL scores of 58.3 and 60.5respectively. One hundred and twenty-one (80.1%) patientsexpressed satisfaction with the outcome of surgery.Conclusion: Visual impairment from cataract has a wideimplication on health and the quality of life of patients.Cataract surgery in our environment leads to an increase inthe quality of life for many cataract-blind patients