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The Study of Quality of Life in Thai Patients with Ophthalmic Diseases Prut Hanutsaha, M.D. Department of Ophthalmology, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand PURPOSE: Health related quality of life (QOL) is the patients' valuation of the impact of diseases to their lives. The QOL differs among different diseases and patients' social background. The authors want to assess the commonly used quality of life (QOL) measurement tools in patients with eye diseases in Thailand. METHOD: Patients who come to ophthalmology out-patient department in Ramathibodi Hospital who are diagnosed of significant public health ophthalmology conditions (cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy) are interviewed about the QOL using time tradeoff method (TTO) and the VFQ-25 questionnaires. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty four patients (60% females) were interviewed. There is statistically significant correlation between TTO and VFQ-25 though the correlation coefficient is not high. Patients with better visual acuity seem to response with higher QOL. CONCLUSIONS: Utility measurement of health outcome such as QOL can be measured by different methods. The QOL measured by TTO and VFQ-25 are statistically correlated though the coefficient is not high. Further study should be done to verify if VFQ-25 is suitable to be used in Thai patients. |
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