Cognitive and affective function, quality of life in cataract patients
Session Details
Session Title: Presented Poster Session: Quality of Vision/Miscellaneous
Venue: Poster Village: Pod 3
First Author: : P.Klonowski POLAND
Co Author(s): : K. Szymona A. Matysik-Wozniak T. Choragiewicz O. Gorbaniuk D. Wrzesinska R. Rejdak
Abstract Details
Purpose:
The aim of the study was to evaluate cognitive and affective function as well as the quality of life in persons with operable cataract as compared with a group with correct vision controlled for age and education (visual acuity: 0.8–1.0).
Setting:
Departament of General Ophtalmology, Medical University in Lublin ,Poland
Methods:
The study involved 80 people aged 50 to 80: 40 with a diagnosed operable cataract of one eye, and 40 in the control group. The following methods were used: interview, vision acuity tests for both eyes based on Snellen charts (ophthalmological diagnosis), Mini Mental State Examination, Wechsler Memory Scale (Polish adaptation by Choynowski), Geriatric Depression Scale, VFQ-25 (psychological diagnosis). The subsequent analysis employed the Mann-Whitney U test and the Pearson’s r test.
Results:
Those with cataract displayed a statistically significant (p<0.05) decrease of cognitive function, quality of life, and increased depression relative to the control group. The greatest differences between the compared groups were observed in the following areas: MMSE – overall score, Orientation to Time, Orientation to Place, Attention and Calculation, Recall, Visual-Spatial Ability. The subjects demonstrated a considerably lower MQ (92) than the control group (MQ=109), p<0.001, and showed worse performance on the following scales: Logical Memory – storytelling (I – direct account, II – delayed account), Verbal Paired Associates, Picture Memory, Numbers Backward Repetition.
Conclusions:
People with vision disorders resulting from cataract demonstrate difficulty in various cognitive functions, not only with those connected with vision. They can result from lack of cognitive function stimulation due to visual impairment (no afferent stimulation of cerebral regions), but the results obtained in this study permit a hypothesis that cataract, when regarded as an age-related disease, is also a symptom of faster general aging (also of the CNS).
Financial Disclosure:
NONE
