Vision-related Quality of Life After Cataract Surgery in West Africa

Abstract AIMS To study the vision related quality of life (VRQoL) before and after a mass cataract surgery campaign in a low-income country and to describe the impact of cataract surgery on quality of life (QOL). METHODS All the patients who had cataract surgery in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) during a campaign for the prevention blindness were examined. VRQoL was assessed using a modified version of the WHO/PBD VF20. The questionnaire was carried out before and three months after the surgery. A QOL related to vision index (QOL-RVI) was calculated from the scores obtained. RESULTS A total of 305 patients (56.1% male) underwent cataract extraction. Mean age was 61.97 ± 14.39 years. The majority of eyes (88.70%) had preoperatively poor visual acuity (CDVA<20/200). Three months after surgeries, good visual outcomes (VA ≥20/60) were achieved in 38.35% of eyes without correction and 68.7% with correction. At this time, QOL-RVI had improved postoperatively in 90.2% of patients, had not changed in 3.1% and was worse in 6.7%. Significant differences were detected (Wilcoxon test p <0.05) for all items tested before and after surgeries. Correlations for the patients after operations showed that there was a significant relation between a global estimated QOL-RVI and the UCVA previous to the surgery (ρ -0.196 p=0.014), regarding the same index and the BCVA after the procedures (ρ -0.35 p=0.00018). CONCLUSIONS Cataract surgery increases the quality of life of patients living in low-income countries such as Burkina Faso and the improvement correlates with the recovery of the visual acuity.