Clinical Assessment of Quality of Life in Glaucoma Patients

Lim, Sang Jin; Kim, In Sook; Jung, Hai Ryun

Abstract

This study analyzed various aspects of what glaucoma patients think about their quality of life(QOL), knowledge of glaucoma, and compliance to treatment. For the study, survey and multifactorial analysis were performed in 165 patients in 10 subject with 60 questions. After the diagnosis of glaucoma, 25.5% of patients were not satisfied with their life compared with 7.3% of them before the diagnosis. Life satisfaction could be decreased from 3.76 point in Likert scale before the diagnosis to 3.07 point after the diagnosis. Life satisfaction decreased significantly in the highly educated group, in the upper or lower income group, and in those who thought as though they were generally healthy. Beside these results, 87.3% of patients were afraid of losing their vision, 78.2% of the patients who had not been operated preferred medical treatment to surgery.