Quality of Life of Patients who have undergone Cataract Surgery at the National Institute of Rehabilitation

Resumen

Nowadays in Mexico cataracts are a pathology which represent a Public Health Problem. It is an eye disease which is characterized by diminished vision, producing opacity in the crystalline lens and leads to blindness, thus affecting the life quality of those persons who are affected. It is possible to reverse the process through surgery. The objective of the investigation was to: learn whether there was a statistically significant (<0.05) difference in the life quality of a sample of subjects who had undergone cataract surgery within the Programa Nacional de Cirugía de Cataratas del Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación (National Program for Cataract Surgery of the National Institute of Rehabilitation), with respect to a previous evaluation. An exploratory study was carried out, both fieldwork and longitudinal, of 200 subjects who had been diagnosed with cataracts and who underwent surgery in the abovementioned program between January 1 and August 31, 2008. The instrument used was the questionnaire, VFQ-25 (Visual Function Questionnaire-25), version 200, of the National Eye Institute of the United States. The SPSSpc statistical package was utilized, using descriptive statistics and Student’s T was calculated, among other tests. Socio-demographic variables considered in the NEI VFQ-25 were added. Results: it was found that the average quality of life of the subjects, previous to surgery was 33.50 points and following surgery 93.37; improving by 39.87 points. Statistically significant differences of 0.000 in the quality of life of subjects who underwent surgery were obtained, in relation to the previous evaluation on the 12 scales of NEI VFQ-25, which indicates that undergoing cataract surgery had positively affected their quality of life.