Quality of Life and Psychological Aspects in Patients with Visual Impairment Secondary to Uveitis: A Clinical Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Brazil.

Purpose: To evaluate the quality of life in individuals with bilateral visual impairment secondary to uveitis and its association with sociodemographic, clinical and psychosocial aspects.

Methods: Data were collected through a structured interviews, using four forms; the SF-12v2, HADS, NEI-VFQ-25 and a specific form developed to collect clinical and sociodemographic data.

Results: 80 patients were included with a mean age of 42.8 years; 63.8% female; 57.5% with permanent reduction of familiar income. The average number of medical visits was 15.2 ±10.7/year. In terms of health-related quality of life (HRQol), the mean of VFQ-25 score was 36.6 ± 15.1 and the mean of SF-12 physical and mental components scores were 43.3 ± 9.9 and 44.9 ± 12.2. Anxiety and depression symptoms were found in 65.1% and 32.5% of patients, respectively.

Conclusions: Visual impairment has impact on several scales of HRQoL leading to productivity loss and consumption of health resources.