The Bristol cataract listing survey: profile of listed patients with visual acuity 6/12 or better.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients with good distance Snellen visual acuity (VA) who are listed for cataract surgery.


METHODS
An observational cross-sectional prospective study of patients listed for cataract surgery. VA and VR-QOL data using the VCMI questionnaire were collected on patients attending preoperative assessment during June 2002.


RESULTS
A total of 397 cataract patients were listed during this month. Following exclusions there were 378 eligible individuals, 210 (56%) of whom had a VA of 6/12 or better in the eye scheduled for surgery. Of these, 40% patients had only mild VR-QOL impairment. More than half of the patients with good VA (6/12 or better) in the surgery eye and mild VR-QOL impairment described their vision as poor in this eye. However, most of these patients were not dissatisfied with their overall level of vision.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant number of patients listed for cataract surgery with VA of 6/12 or better had only mild VR-QOL impairment and were not dissatisfied with their overall level of vision. The decision to list a patient for surgery may have been based on the patient's perception of monocular vision rather than their quality of life.
Department of Ophthalmology, Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol, UK.
R
R
Malik
N A
NA
Frost
J M
JM
Sparrow
L
L
Hale
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002386:Cataract / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D014792:Visual Acuity