[Impact of cataract surgery on visual acuity and quality of life]

Self-Reported Quality of Life in Patients with Long-Standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease

Purpose: To assess health-related (HR-) and vision-related (VR-) quality of life (QoL) in patients with long-standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKHD).Methods: Cross-sectional study of 49 patients with disease duration ≥12 months followed at Uveitis Service, Universidade de São Paulo, BR, for at least 12 months. HR- and VR-QoL were evaluated using SF-36 and NEI VFQ-25 questionnaires, respectively. Demographic, clinical and visual function data were compared with questionnaire scores.Results: After generalized linear models, lower mensal household income was associated with lower scores in both questionnaires while unemployment was associated with SF-36 questionnaire only. Treatment with peri-/intraocular medications and ocular surgery were associated with higher scores on SF-36 questionnaire. Worse visual acuity (VA), ocular complications and no ocular surgery were related to lower scores on NEI VFQ-25 questionnaire.Conclusions: On HR- and VR-QoL questionnaires difficulties perceived by patients with long-standing VKHD were mainly associated with socio-economic aspects, VA, local treatment and ocular complications.

Results of cataract surgery in a third-level teaching hospital. More than just a simple number

OBJECTIVE

To analyse a series of cataract surgeries performed in a third-fourth level teaching hospital, providing complementary data to the number of surgeries that can be used as a further reference, and to compare them with those published by other Public Health Systems, mainly the British one.

METHODS

Retrospective study of 1052 cataract procedures at the University Hospital of Valladolid from January 2016 to July 2016. Collected variables: age, gender, pre- and postsurgical visual acuity, degree of complexity of the cataract, duration of the surgery, and surgical complications.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 74.1 ± 9.5 years, and 81.61% started from a VA <0.5. The duration of the surgery was collected only in 12% of the procedures. The complications rate was 1.8%, with one case of endophthalmitis. A final postoperative refraction was performed in only 44.7% of the cases. A total of 87.2% of the eyes achieved a VA ≥ 0.5 after surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the series show significant differences from those from the audit of the English National Healthcare System, with our patients being more complex and having less complications. There are missing-data in the collection of important variables such as post-surgical refraction or the duration of the surgery, which despite this, this work can be a good reference.

Measuring benefits and patients' satisfaction when glasses are not needed after cataract and presbyopia surgery: scoring and psychometric validation of the Freedom from Glasses Value Scale (FGVS)

Background

The purpose of this study was to reduce the number of items, create a scoring method and assess the psychometric properties of the Freedom from Glasses Value Scale (FGVS), which measures benefits of freedom from glasses perceived by cataract and presbyopic patients after multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) surgery.

Methods

The 21-item FGVS, developed simultaneously in French and Spanish, was administered by phone during an observational study to 152 French and 152 Spanish patients who had undergone cataract or presbyopia surgery at least 1 year before the study. Reduction of items and creation of the scoring method employed statistical methods (principal component analysis, multitrait analysis) and content analysis. Psychometric properties (validation of the structure, internal consistency reliability, and known-group validity) of the resulting version were assessed in the pooled population and per country.

Results

One item was deleted and 3 were kept but not aggregated in a dimension. The other 17 items were grouped into 2 dimensions ('global evaluation', 9 items; 'advantages', 8 items) and divided into 5 sub-dimensions, with higher scores indicating higher benefit of surgery. The structure was validated (good item convergent and discriminant validity). Internal consistency reliability was good for all dimensions and sub-dimensions (Cronbach's alphas above 0.70). The FGVS was able to discriminate between patients wearing glasses or not after surgery (higher scores for patients not wearing glasses). FGVS scores were significantly higher in Spain than France; however, the measure had similar psychometric performances in both countries.

Conclusions

The FGVS is a valid and reliable instrument measuring benefits of freedom from glasses perceived by cataract and presbyopic patients after multifocal IOL surgery.