General health-related quality of life in preschool children with strabismus or amblyopia.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the associations of general health-related quality of life (GHRQOL) with strabismus or amblyopia in preschool children.


METHODS
Population-based study.


METHODS
Sample of children aged 25 to 72 months in the Multi-ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS).


METHODS
The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), a measure of GHRQOL, was administered to the parents of the children.


METHODS
The PedsQL consists of 4 subscales (physical, emotional, social, and school functioning) and 3 composite scores (physical summary, psychosocial summary, and total). Regression models were used to evaluate the associations of GHRQOL with strabismus (in children 25-72 months) or amblyopia (in children 30-72 months).


RESULTS
Of the 4218 children aged ≥25 months, 121 (2.9%) were diagnosed with strabismus. Significant differences were found in all 3 composite scores between children with and without strabismus, before and after controlling for gender, age, race, family income, systemic health conditions, and prior knowledge of strabismus diagnosis (P<0.05). These differences were present in esotropes, exotropes, children with intermittent strabismus, and children with constant strabismus. A total of 3318 children were aged ≥30 months, and 71 children (2.1%) had amblyopia. There were no significant differences in any PedsQL scores between children with and without amblyopia, even after adjusting for gender, age, race, and family income (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Strabismus was associated with significantly worse GHRQOL in preschool children. Although we did not find any detectable association between amblyopia and GHRQOL, further study using vision-specific instruments is required to explore the impact of both strabismus and amblyopia on pediatric quality of life.
Wen
Ge
G
Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
McKean-Cowdin
Roberta
R
Varma
Rohit
R
Tarczy-Hornoch
Kristina
K
Cotter
Susan A
SA
Borchert
Mark
M
Azen
Stanley
S
D000550:Amblyopia / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D013285:Strabismus / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires