Quality of Life among Patients with Glaucoma in Gaza Governorates

Abstract

Background: Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Quality of Life (QOL) has emerged as an important parameter for assessing the quality of health care of patients with Glaucoma disease. This study assessed QOL among Glaucoma patients in Gaza Governorates and the factors influencing their life conditions. Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study included 265 eligible glaucoma patients from Al Nasser Ophthalmic Hospital and European Gaza Hospital. Socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics in addition to QOL data were collected using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. Results: Study participants had a medium level of QOL scores. The mean score for GQL-15 was 59.2 ± 17.6. The greatest difficulty was in activities involving glare and dark adaptation (48.5±18.0), while least difficulty for outdoor mobility (66.6±25.4). The overall mean percentage of SF-36 domain scores was 61.7±13.5. The bodily pain domain got the highest score (79.4); the social function domain was (72.22); and the lowest domain was General Health (48.58). Findings also showed that participants without ocular diseases and comorbidities had better QOL. Moreover, patients with higher educational level, higher income and disease duration less than 5 years had better QOL scores. Conclusion: Glaucoma has moderately negative effects on people’s ability to function independently in every field of their lives. Glaucoma patients should be educated to understand the prognosis of the disease and importance of the adherence to the daily treatment to improve their QOL.

Quality of Life among Patients with Glaucoma in the West Bank, Palestine: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Consistent with previous studies, the mean score of GQL-15 is low for central vision and adaptation to dark dimensions. This is exactly in line with findings of previous studies ( 14 ), ( 26 ) and ( 17 ) whom revealed that visual impairment is linked to dark adaptation or glare, like walking after dark, seeing at night and adjusting to different levels of illumination. Dhawan and his colleagues ( 15 ) found poor QoL among patients with mild, moderate and severe glaucoma compared to control healthy group and the QoL declined in patients who experienced severe visual loss.…”

“…Despite 71% of participants prescribed their general health as good, the overall glaucoma QoL was relatively suboptimal (66%). On the other hand , the QoL of glaucoma patients was at medium level in Gaza Strip ( 14 ) and this is supported by previous findings ( 21 ) and whom used SF-36 ( 22 ). In another hand, Goldberg and his colleagues ( 23 )and Naveen, et al ( 17 ) used the GQL-15 and ended with similar findings.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted among glaucoma patients in order to assess their QoL in the West bank using the GQL-15 and the SF-36 together. However, similar study was performed in the Gaza Strip( 14 ). Despite 71% of participants prescribed their general health as good, the overall glaucoma QoL was relatively suboptimal (66%).…”

“…This finding is consistent with results of Gupta et al ( 28 ) and Béchetoille et al ( 29 )whom reported negative correlation between age and QoL in the general population. Similarly, Mushtaha and Aljedi ( 14 ) revealed low QoL with progression of age. The most reported problems associated with aging are decreased vision, bad reading, walking on stairs and/or identifying persons.…”

“…Data on the prevalence of glaucoma are not available in Palestine. One study examined the QoL of glaucoma patients in Gaza ( 14 ) but the needs and obstacles of glaucoma patients in the West Bank have not been studied. Therefore, this study aims to assess the QoL of glaucoma patients in the West Bank and explore the main influencing factors.…”