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

Aim: To evaluate the outcome of cataract surgery subjectively by assessing functional vision in terms of quality of life(QOL), activities of daily living (ADL), and patient’s satisfaction. Methodology: This was an observational and multicentered study in which patients with age-related cataract who had surgery in Plateau State from 1st October 2002 – 31st March 2003 constituted the population. The study instrument was the standardized Visual Function (VF-14) and Quality of Life (QOL) questionnaires developed by the Cataract Patient Outcome Research Team (PORT), and designed to measure the impact of impaired vision on patient’s ability to perform daily activities. Patient’s satisfaction was assessed in relation to the hospital environment, friendliness of staff, nature of surgery and visual restoration. Result: Two hundred patients were recruited. One hundred and ninety-nine (59.5%) of them were male and 81(40.5%) were female. About 34.5% of the study population were farmers, 97 (48.5%) of them were blind and 183 (83.6%) eyes were blind preoperatively. The mean preoperative visual function (VF) and quality of life (QOL) scores of the ninety-seven blind patients 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 VA and QOL ( r = 0.83). Functional vision improved after cataract surgery; it was more remarkable among blind patients with mean VF and QOL scores of 58.3 and 60.5 respectively. One hundred and twenty-one (80.1%) patients expressed satisfaction with the outcome of surgery. Conclusion: Visual impairment from cataract has a wide implication on health and the quality of life of patients. Cataract surgery in our environment leads to an increase in the quality of life for many cataract-blind patients