The psychosocial effects of strabismus: Effect of patient demographics on the AS-20 score

PURPOSE The introduction of the AS-20 strabismus-specific quality-of-life questionnaire allows clinicians to quantify the effects of strabismus on adults for the first time. We correlated strabismic patients' demographic and clinical findings to their AS-20 scores. METHODS A consecutive cohort of patients from an ongoing prospective study of adults with manifest strabismus was recruited. The patients' age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), magnitude, and direction of deviation were correlated to their AS-20 scores. Patients' zip codes were used to derive a score for their SES based on the English 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation score (IMD2007). RESULTS A total of 61 questionnaires with all demographic and clinical data were available. The median magnitude of deviation was 20.4(Delta) in this group. The mean AS-20 score was 49.5 (SD 21.6). Women had significantly lower AS-20 scores than men (p = 0.02). There was no difference in AS-20 scores between individuals with eso- and exodeviations (p = 0.7). Multiple linear regression analysis shows female sex and lower SES to be significantly associated with lower AS-20 scores (p = 0.03 and p = 0.006, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Strabismic patients who are female or live in a more deprived area have a significantly lower AS-20 score. (J AAPOS 2010;14:469-471)