Influence of Visual Impairment On the Quality of Life: A Survey of Patients Reporting At the Low Vision Centre of the Eastern Regional Hospital of Ghana - Influence of Visual Impairment On the Quality of Life: A Survey of Patients Reporting At the Low Vision Centre of the Eastern Regional Hospital of Ghana - Open Access Pub

Our aim was to evaluate the influence of visual impairment on the quality of life of patients reporting at the low vision centre of the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua. The World Health Organization Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) which assesses quality of life in four main domains was administered to two hundred and ninety four (294) patients who visited the low vision centre of the Eastern Regional Hospital, for various eye services. Additional information on patient demographics and their visual acuities were obtained. The mean quality of life scores were determined for the visually and non-visually impaired. 86(29.3%) of the participants were visually impaired (presenting vision worse than 6/18). A significant difference in mean age was realized between subjects who were visually impaired (53.7 ± 18.4) (mean ± SD) and subjects who were not visually impaired (34.3 ± 13.1) (p = 0.001). The visually impaired participants had a lower quality of life scores in all four domains of quality of life naming, environmental, physical, social and psychological with 7.5% unadjusted reduction in overall quality of life. Visual impairment is associated with significant reduction in different quality of life domains for this population. Quality of life is poorer with increasing severity of visual impairment. DOI 10.14302/issn.2470-0436.jos-16-940 Visual impairment refers to loss of vision due to blindness and or low vision state of a person, which cannot be corrected by conventional ophthalmic therapy such as refractive correction, use of medication or surgery and consequently affects visual capabilities 1,2. The World Health Organization expands this definition by including that, persons with visual impairment have a visual acuity of less than 6/18 up to light – perception, and may also have a visual field of less than ten degrees (10°) which they use or can potentially use for the planning and or execution of visual tasks 3. Many visually impaired persons have some form of residual (low) vision that may be sufficient for their visual needs upon receiving some form visual rehabilitation and expert clinical counseling 1. Global estimates of visual impairment as of 2012 were 285 million (39 million blind people versus 246 people with low vision) 4. Some 80% - 90% of world’s visually impaired people live in third world countries. Reports from Sub – Saharan Africa show that, 3% of Ghana’s population is visually impaired from a number of causes 5.This underscores visual impairment as enormous public health problem, particularly in the developing world. The causes