Vision-Related Quality of Life and Work Performance in Actively Working Patients with Uveitis: A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the association between vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL) in working patients with uveitis and the occupational impact of these diseases in terms of absenteeism, presenteeism, overall work impairment, and the indirect costs of absenteeism.

Methods: The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (NEI VFQ-25) was used to assess the VR-QoL in this cross-sectional, cross-association study. Associations between the overall composite score (OCS) of the NEI VFQ-25 and the sociodemographic, occupational, and clinical variables of the sample were assessed using bivariate analyses. Correlations between OCS and absenteeism, presenteeism, overall work impairment, and indirect costs were assessed. The data for these four variables were analyzed according to the following OCS categories: < 61, 61-70, 71-80, and > 80.

Results: Sixty participants were included in this study. OCS exhibited moderate and strong associations with presenteeism (WPAI-uveitis: r = -0.56, p < 0.001; WRFQ-SpV: r = 0.65, p < 0.001, respectively). In contrast, it exhibited weak associations with absenteeism (r = -0.37; p = 0.003) and indirect costs (r = -0.38; p = 0.003). Absenteeism (16.22 [0-25] vs. 0 [0-0] for the remaining groups, p = 0.001), presenteeism measured using the WPAI-uveitis and WRFQ-SpV, and indirect costs (55.90 € [0-104] vs. 0 [0-0] for the remaining groups, p = 0.001) were higher in the subgroups with lower OCS.

Conclusions: Low VR-QoL scores were associated with greater occupational impairment in workers with uveitis. Thus, VR-QoL measured using the OCS-VFQ-25 is a good predictor of the occupational impact of uveitis and can be used for clinical decision-making in the workplace.

Keywords: Absenteeism; presenteeism; quality of life; uveitis; work performance.