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Impressum
Quality of life in patients undergoing cataract surgery in their first eye - evaluation with the SF-36-test -
1Reichelt J. A., 1Kovács N., 2Handschuh T., 2Siebmann J. U., 2Küchler T.
1Univ.-Augenklinik, Hegewischstr. 2, D-24105 Kiel, 2Referenzzentrum Lebensqualität i. d. Onkologie, Arnold-Heller-Str. 7, D-24105 Kiel
Objective: In cataract surgery the patients´ quality of
life (QL) gains importance in terms of visual function and ocular findings.
It must be asked which aspects in QL are concerned by ocular disease and
its therapy. Reliability and validity in the evaluation of patients´
QL is essential. In principal the question arises if amelioration in QL
is possible through cataract surgery.
Methods: The 36-item short-form survey (SF-36) is an internationally
standardized instrument in order to evaluate QL. This is also valid as
far as the german version is concerned: Representative data for the german
population are available. The test consists of 36 questions about the
two categories of physical and mental health. Each category is devided
into 4 subgroups. The results in each subtest lead to a score between
0 and 100. A high score indicates a good QL. In our study we handed over
the SF-36 to 101 patients the day before cataract surgery. 93 of these
filled in the forms. Further interviews with the same questions follow
2 and 6 months postoperatively.
Results: Before cataract surgery patients under 70 years (n = 29)
tended to have a lower score in physical health in comparison to the reference
population. These results were not significant (p-values of the subgroups:
0.056; 0.061; 0.275; 0.548). In mental health, however, these patients
were signifcantly worse in parts (p: 0.006; 0.048; 0.059; 0.408). In patients
over 70 years (n=64) physical health showed a lower level in all subgroups
(p: 0,002; 0,004; 0,009; 0,012). Mental health was also partly worse in
comparison with a representative population of the same age (p: 0,001;
0,011; 0,099; 0,142).
Conclusion: A possible reason for comparative low patients´
QL in our clinic before cataract surgery could be their cataract itself.
On the other hand it seems possible that special selection of patients
in a university eye clinic mirrors low QL scores. This question and the
question to which extent cataract surgery has an influence on QL will
be answered when still missing question forms will be returned.