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
. 2022 Aug;51(8):1857-1865.
doi: 10.18502/ijph.v51i8.10272.

Vision-Related Quality of Life of Older People in Tehran and their Access and Utilization of Eye Care Services

Sara Bigdeli  1 , Mohammad Arab  1 , Moeen Hadian  1 , Maryam Tajvar  1
Affiliations

Vision-Related Quality of Life of Older People in Tehran and their Access and Utilization of Eye Care Services

Sara Bigdeli et al. Iran J Public Health. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Access to and utilization of eye care services may improve vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) of older people. This study aimed to evaluate the VRQoL of older adults and its associations with access to and utilization of eye care services.

Methods: This is a community-based cross-sectional survey conducted in Tehran, Iran, on 566 older people in 2018. The NEI-25 VFQ was used to measure the VRQoL. Multilevel Linear Regression analysis used to test the study hypotheses.

Results: The average score of the VRQoL was 80 out of 100. About 61% of the participants did not utilize the annual routine eye examination and the mean score of overall access to eye care was 85 out of 115. Having a higher physical, socio-cultural and overall access were significantly associated with higher VRQoL, but those with regular utilization had no better VRQoL status compared to non-users.

Conclusion: Access to eye care services showed to be very important in improvement of the VRQoL, whereas higher utilization was not found to be associated with better VRQoL statue of older people, as there might have a reverse causality with using more eye services with higher Visual impairment.

Keywords: Eye care services; Older people; Vision related quality of life; Visual function questionnaire.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
Scores of dimensions and overall score of VRQoL of elderly in Tehran
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nodehi Moghaddam A, Goodarzian M, Azadi F, et al. (2015). Prevalence of eye disorders in elderly population of Tehran, Iran. Elderly Health Journal, 1(2): 46–51.
    1. Khalili MR, Hosseini H, Rahat F, Nejabat M, Farvardin M. (2009). Ocular Trauma in Subjects older than 60 years. Bina J Ophthalmol, 14(4):400–5.
    1. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary (2021), “Quality of life.”. Available from: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quality%20of%20life
    1. Brown RL, Barrett AE. (2011). Visual impairment and quality of life among older adults: an examination of explanations for the relationship. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 66(3):364–73. - PubMed
    1. Crews JE, Campbell VA. (2004). Vision impairment and hearing loss among community-dwelling older Americans: implications for health and functioning. Am J Public Health, 94(5):823–9. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources