Assessment of vision-related quality of life, anxiety and depression rate, analysis of patient-reported barriers and quality of care in follow-up in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy patients

Author: Francisco Javier Moreno Morillo (Spain)

Co-authors: José Ignacio Fernández-Vigo, Barbara Burgos-Blasco, Alicia Valverde-Megías, Daniela Rego-Lorca, Lorenzo López-Guajardo, Juan Donate-López

Purpose

To assess the vision-related quality of life, the depression and anxiety rates and analysis of the main Patient-Reported Barriers in follow-up in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) patients.

Setting/Venue

Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Methods

A cross-sectional study of patients with CSCR (n= 40) was conducted in a hospital retinal department. Subjects were interviewed with a 50- question survey that had three parts: the Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ25), a specific questionnaire about the disease and quality of healthcare, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire. In the VFQ25 the score ranged for each item from 0 to 100. The general QoL score ranged from 1 to 5. In the HADS scale a score ≥11/21 means abnormal cases, and between 8 and 10 out of 21 means borderline cases. The age and best- corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) scale were registered in all patients.

Results

Forty patients with chronic CSCR participated with a mean age of 52.6 ± 8.2 years old, being males 61%. The mean BCVA of the worse eye was 77.6 ± 12.9 ETDRS letters, with a mean BCVA in the better eye was 88.0 ±9.1. The global VFQ-25 mean score was 75.1 ±13.7 being 45.5 ±12.3 for the general vision and 56.9 ±18.5 for the general health.The mean score for social functioning was 89.5 ±16.0, being 66.2 ±17.8 for mental health.The mean score for difficulties at work was 75.7 ±22.9. VA in the worse eye was associated with the global score of the VFQ-25 scale (R=0.325, p=0.033), but no correlation was observed with general health or mental health (R≤0.325, p≥0.138). The main barrier in the follow-up of these patients is the absenteeism in the workplace (71.4%) followed by long waiting times in the clinic (21.4%). 74.3% of patients had never asked for a second medical opinion, 25.7% on some isolated occasion, and none of the patients had asked on multiple occasions. On the HADS scale, 20.1% and 5.4% of patients had a score classified as anxiety and depression respectively, with an additional 16% and 11% of the patients classified as borderline cases.

Conlusions

This study elucidates the impact of vision impairment and the visual functioning in CSCR, describing an important rate of anxiety symptoms as well as the main barriers in the follow-up of these patients.

Financial Disclosure

None