Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;190(1):429-436.
doi: 10.1007/s11845-020-02285-5. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Sports participation and quality of life in individuals with visual impairment

Bayazit Ilhan  1 , Aysun Idil  2 , Inci Ilhan  3
Affiliations

Sports participation and quality of life in individuals with visual impairment

Bayazit Ilhan et al. Ir J Med Sci. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: The positive effects of sports participation on health can be an important issue for rehabilitation of visually impaired individuals.

Aims: Our aim was to determine the relationship between sports participation and quality of life in individuals with visual impairment.

Methods: The study included 100 athletes who participated in national games for people with visual impairment and 100 subjects who did not participate in sports as the control group. The two groups were matched according to age, gender, visual acuity and visual field. The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was applied for assessment of quality of life.

Results: All subjects had best corrected visual acuity less than 6/60 and/or visual field less than central 10 degrees in radius in the better eye. The sociodemographic characteristics of the study and control groups were similar except the level of education being higher in the athlete group and level of income higher in the control group. All of the SF-36 scores were higher among athletes compared to controls. Duration of sports activities (years) was positively correlated with Physical Functioning score. There were no significant relations between SF-36 scores and weekly sports participation time (hours). Athletes who had visual loss at an earlier age had better scores in Physical Functioning and Role Limitations due to Physical Problems.

Conclusions: Sports activities had positive relationships with all domains of the quality of life in individuals with visual impairment. Thus, appropriate sports activities would increase the success of rehabilitation programs and their quality of life.

Keywords: Blindness; Quality of life; Rehabilitation; Sports; Visual impairment.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Rahi JS, Cumberland PM, Peckham CS (2009) Visual impairment and vision-related quality of life in working-age adults: findings in the 1958 British birth cohort. Ophthalmology 116:270–274 - DOI
    1. Wong HB, Machin D, Tan SB, Wong TY, Saw SM (2009) Visual impairment and its impact on health-related quality of life in adolescents. Am J Ophthalmol 147:505–511 - DOI
    1. Bourne RRA, Flaxman SR, Braithwaite T, Cicinelli MV, Das A, Jonas JB, Keeffe J, Kempen JH, Leasher J, Limburg H, Naidoo K, Pesudovs K, Resnikoff S, Silvester A, Stevens GA, Tahhan N, Wong TY, Taylor HR, Bourne R, Ackland P, Arditi A, Barkana Y, Bozkurt B, BRAITHWAITE T, Bron A, Budenz D, Cai F, Casson R, Chakravarthy U, Choi J, Cicinelli MV, Congdon N, Dana R, Dandona R, Dandona L, Das A, Dekaris I, del Monte M, Deva J, Dreer L, Ellwein L, Frazier M, Frick K, Friedman D, Furtado J, Gao H, Gazzard G, George R, Gichuhi S, Gonzalez V, Hammond B, Hartnett ME, He M, Hejtmancik J, Hirai F, Huang J, Ingram A, Javitt J, Jonas J, Joslin C, Keeffe J, Kempen J, Khairallah M, Khanna R, Kim J, Lambrou G, Lansingh VC, Lanzetta P, Leasher J, Lim J, LIMBURG H, Mansouri K, Mathew A, Morse A, Munoz B, Musch D, Naidoo K, Nangia V, PALAIOU M, Parodi MB, Pena FY, Pesudovs K, Peto T, Quigley H, Raju M, Ramulu P, Resnikoff S, Robin A, Rossetti L, Saaddine J, SANDAR M, Serle J, Shen T, Shetty R, Sieving P, Silva JC, Silvester A, Sitorus RS, Stambolian D, Stevens G, Taylor H, Tejedor J, Tielsch J, Tsilimbaris M, van Meurs J, Varma R, Virgili G, Volmink J, Wang YX, Wang NL, West S, Wiedemann P, Wong T, Wormald R, Zheng Y (2017) Magnitude, temporal trends, and projections of the global prevelence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health 5(9):e888–e897 - DOI
    1. Langelaan M, De Boer MR, Van Nıspen RM, Wouters B, Moll AC, Van Rens GH (2007) Impact of visual impairment on quality of life: a comparison with quality of life in the general population and with other chronic conditions. Ophthalmic Epidemiol 14:119–126 - DOI
    1. Lamoureux EL, Hassell JB, Keeffe JE (2004) The determinants of participation in activities of daily living in people with impaired vision. Am J Ophthalmol 137:265–270 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources