12 WORLD VIEW Br J Ophthalmol: first published as 10.1136/bjo.86.1.12 on 1 January 2002. Downloaded from Visual acuity and quality of life outcomes in cataract surgery patients in Hong Kong Joseph Lau, John J Michon, Wing-Shing Chan, Leon B Ellwein ............................................................................................................................. Br J Ophthalmol 2002;86:12–17 Series editors: Background: Visual acuity, visual functioning, and vision related quality of life outcomes after cataract W V Good and S Ruit surgery were assessed in a population based study in a suburban area of Hong Kong. Methods: A cluster sampling design was used to select apartment buildings within housing estates for enumeration. All enumerated residents 60 years of age or over were invited for an eye examination and visual acuity measurement at a site within each estate. Visual functioning (VF) and vision related quality of life (QOL) questionnaires were administered to interview subjects who had undergone cata- ract surgery and to unoperated people with presenting visual acuity less than 6/60 in either eye, and a sample of those with normal visual acuity. Results: 36.6% of the 310 cataract operated individuals had presenting visual acuity 6/18 or better in both eyes, and 40.0% when measured by pinhole. 4.5% were blind, with presenting visual acuity less than 6/60 in both eyes. Of operated eyes, 59.6% presented with visual acuity 6/18 or better. 11.2% of the operated eyes were blind with vision less than 6/60. Visual acuity outcomes 6/18 or better were marginally associated with surgery in private versus public hospitals. Lens status (pseudo- phakic versus aphakic) and surgical period (within the most recent 3 years versus before) were not sig- nificantly related to vision outcomes. Mean VF and QOL scores decreased consistently with decreasing See end of article for authors’ affiliations vision status. Spearman correlation with vision status was 0.420 for VF scores and 0.313 for QOL ....................... scores. Among VF/QOL subscales, correlation was strongest for visual perception (r = 0.447) among VF subscales and weakest for self care (r = 0.171) among QOL subscales. Regression adjusted VF and Correspondence to: QOL total scores for cataract operated individuals were slightly lower than for those of visually com- Leon B Ellwein, PhD, National Eye Institute, 31 parable unoperated individuals (p<0.05). Center Drive, Bethesda, Conclusions: Cataract operations in Hong Kong did not consistently produce good presenting visual MD 20892–2510, USA acuity outcomes, suggesting that postoperative monitoring would be useful to minimise visual impair- Accepted for publication ment in this population. Although vision outcomes were consistently correlated with all VF/QOL 23 July 2001 subscale scores, there was a differential impact with VF subscales usually being affected more by ....................... reduced acuity than the more general QOL subscales. http://bjo.bmj.com/ ataract was found to be leading cause of blindness in sented public, private, and home ownership scheme (govern- individual eyes with presenting visual acuity less than ment subsidised self purchased) housing. 6/60 among people aged 60 or older in Hong Kong.1 In In door to door enumeration, 4487 eligible subjects 60 years C 23 recent population based studies in rural China and other of age or older were identified, of which 3441 (76.7%) 45 studies in Western countries, advanced age was found to be completed visual acuity measurement and an ocular examina- on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. the most important factor associated with the development of tion at a temporary site set up within the neighbourhood. cataract and subsequent vision impairment. As the Hong Cataract operated individuals were queried as to the date and Kong population ages, morbidity associated with cataract sur- hospital where their surgery was performed. Further details gery is expected to rise. In planning medical services for cata- regarding the sampling and examination methods are ract patients, it is essential to include the assessment of post- reported in a companion paper.1 surgical outcomes not only in terms of visual acuity, but also Visual functioning (VF) and vision related quality of life for patient self reported visual functioning and vision related (QOL) interviews were conducted in those who had cataract quality of life. surgery, in those presenting with visual acuity worse than 6/60 This article presents findings on visual acuity, visual in either eye, and in approximately 5% of unoperated people functioning, and quality of life outcomes in a population with visual acuity >6/18 in both eyes. based, cross sectional sample of elderly Hong Kong Chinese with operated cataract in one or both eyes. Because a similar VF and QOL instruments protocol was employed, the results presented here can be The VF/QOL questionnaires used in this study were originally compared directly with findings from two studies in mainland developed for a large scale clinical trial of cataract surgery in China,67where the socioeconomic and medical service condi- India.89 Both questionnaires have been successfully used in tions differ substantially. surveys of blindness and cataract outcomes in Nepal10 and in the Shunyi6 and Doumen7 districts of China. A translation of METHODS the original English version into Cantonese, the local Chinese Sample and design dialect, was used.7 The study was conducted in the Shatin area of Hong Kong. In The VF instrument consists of 12 items in four vision this densely populated suburban area, large apartment build- subscales—visual perception (activity limitation, near vision, ings comprise 95.0% of all housing. Cluster sampling was used intermediate vision, and distance vision), sensory adaptation to select subjects living in 30 representative apartment build- (light/dark adaptation, visual search, colour discrimination, ings from 15 large housing estates. The 15 estate strata repre- and glare disability), peripheral vision (single item), and www.bjophthalmol.com Visual acuity and quality of life outcomes in cataract surgery patients in Hong Kong 13 depth perception (single item). The QOL instrument contains 6/18 with procedure type, surgery period, and hospital type Br J Ophthalmol: first published as 10.1136/bjo.86.1.12 on 1 January 2002. Downloaded from 12 items, comprising four subscales—self care (bathing, was investigated by multiple logistic regression for operated eating, dressing, and toileting), mobility (walking to neigh- eyes. Associations between vision status and VF/QOL scores bours, walking to shops, and doing household chores), social were assessed by Spearman correlation coefficients. Differ- interaction (attending functions and meeting friends), and ences in VF/QOL scores between aphakic and pseudophakic mental wellbeing (burden on others, dejection, and loss of individuals were assessed by linear regression adjusted for confidence). Both questionnaires assess the current degree of demographic variables. Regression analyses were also used to difficulty being experienced by the subject on a four point compare the VF and QOL scores between operated and unop- scale from “not at all” to “a lot.” Subscale scores are linearly erated individuals using vision status and demographic transformed so that the response range is between 0 and 100. variables as control variables. Composite scores for VF (VF Total) and QOL (QOL Total) instruments were calculated by equal weighting of subscale scores. RESULTS Interviewers were trained in general interviewing tech- A cross sectional sample of 310 Hong Kong Chinese aged 60 niques and administration of the questionnaire through the years or older who had cataract surgery in one or both eyes, use of a master interviewing audiotape. Practice interviews some of whom had been operated on decades earlier, were were conducted on both outpatients and inpatients (none of identified. Most of them (64.8%) had no formal education, them were study subjects) at the Hong Kong Eye Hospital and 69.0% were female, 75.4% were 70 years of age or more, and Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong. Fifty three additional 51.6% lived in public housing estates. Fifty three per cent had subjects were interviewed in a pilot study in Shatin conducted bilateral cataract operations. There were 273 (88.1%) pseudo- before the main study. Intraobserver and interobserver agree- phakes, 34 (11.0%) aphakes, and three individuals with unde- ment of VF/QOL questionnaire responses were evaluated in 28 termined lens status. (None of the cases was aphakic in one of the study subjects. Repeat interviews were conducted eye and pseudophakic in the other.) approximately 1 hour after the initial one. A weighted kappa statistic was used to assess the degree of agreement across the Visual acuity outcomes original 4 point rating scale of each VF/QOL item. Weights Table 1 shows presenting visual acuity status for cataract were 1.0 for exact agreement and 0.66, 0.33, and 0.0, operated individuals. The percentage of subjects with normal/ respectively for disagreement of 1, 2, and 3 points. Kappas for near normal acuity was 36.6%, while 4.5% had visual acuity intraobserver agreement (n = 12) were between 0.55 and 1.00 less than 6/60 in both eyes. Considering only better eye vision, for VF items and between 0.67 and 1.00 for QOL items. Inter- 71.2% had normal or near normal acuity. observer agreement (n = 16) ranged between 0.52 to 0.87 for Pseudophakes were more likely to have normal/near VF items and, except for one item, between 0.56 and 1.00 for normal acuity than aphakes; 40.1% (109/272) of the QOL items. Internal consistency of responses for the 12 items pseudophakes and 88.2% (30/34) of the aphakes wore specta- in the VF scales as measured by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87 cles for distance correction. With pinhole measurement, the (average inter-item correlation coefficient = 0.36), and for the number of subjects with normal/near normal acuity increased 12 items in the QOL scale it was 0.89 (average inter-item cor- from 113 (36.6%) to 124 (40.0%) and the number of bilaterally relation coefficient = 0.41).