Quality-of-Life Questionnaire in Children Operated for Pediatric Cataracts

Purpose: To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) in children who had undergone surgery for pediatric cataract. Material and Method: Twenty-five children were included in the study and were divided into two group according to age (group 1 patients younger than 6 years and group 2 - patients older than 7 years). A questionnaire was given to the patients and their parents to assess the QQL. The questionnaire had 4 parts evaluating the functional, social and surgical apprehensions of the parents and a part appraising the child's thought. This last part was answered by parents in group 1 and by children in group 2. The correlations between the questionnaire results and patient characteristics were assessed statistically. Results: The mean age was 3.5 +/- 1.6(1.5-6) years in group 1 and 9.9 +/- 2.6(7-15) years in group 2. Functional, social or surgical scores were 42.5 (0-80), 45 (5-100) and 63 (12.5-100) in group 1 and 40 (10-90), 70 (40-85) and 75 (25-100) in group 2, respectively. Functional, social or surgical scores were not significantly different between the groups. Social apprehensions were significantly higher in the parents of patients with preoperative strabismus in group 2 (Mann-Whitney U test, p= 0.05). Discussion: Pediatric cataracts have a great impact on children's life socially and functionally. Depending on the age at surgery, the visual acuity of the patients may vary, but the associated preoperative strabismus causes more social concern in the parents.