Comparison of psychosocial and emotional consequences of childhood strabismus on the families from rural and urban India.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the psychosocial consequences of horizontal comitant strabismus in children between the families of urban and rural India.


METHODS
In this cohort study, an eight-question quality-of-life instrument was administered by trained staff to the guardians of strabismic children from rural and urban areas by a live interview.


RESULTS
This study included 93 strabismic-children aged 4-16 years of which 52 were females. Forty-one had esodeviation and 52 had exodeviation. Seventy per cent parents were extremely distressed due to squint, 65% were extremely distressed due to people's remarks, 65% were extremely worried, 55% children were extremely distressed due to people's remarks, 57% children were severely ostracized, 38% had severe difficulty in communication and 50% had difficulty to cope; 64% parents were not advised a corrective surgery. The difference between families from rural and urban areas, or whether a male child was affected or a female child or for an esodeviation or an exodeviation was statistically not significant. The questionnaire had a good internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.71).


CONCLUSIONS
There was a significant negative psychosocial and emotional impact of childhood strabismus that was not affected by the rural or urban location of the family or the gender of the strabismic child or type of the deviation. The quality-of-life instrument can be used as part of the clinical examination for strabismic children.
Kothari
Mihir
M
Mahatme Eye Hospital and Eye Bank, 16 Central Excise Colony, Chhatrapati Square, Wardha Road, Nagpur, India. drmihirkothari@jyotirmay.com
Balankhe
Suwarna
S
Gawade
Rinkle
R
Toshnival
Svetlana
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004644:Emotions; D004948:Esotropia / Q000523:psychology*; D005099:Exotropia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011584:Psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population