Specific Health-Related Quality of Life Concerns in Children with Intermittent Exotropia

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the frequency of specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) concerns in children with intermittent exotropia (XT) using the Intermittent Exotropia Questionnaire (IXTQ).

Methods: Eighty children with intermittent XT (aged 5 to <17 years), plus one parent for each child, completed the Child and Proxy IXTQ respectively. Each item was scored from 0 to 100 (worst to best HRQOL). Mean scores were calculated for each item and items were ranked from lowest to highest impact (worst HRQOL). Analysis was repeated for sub-groups of 5- to <8-year-olds (n = 46) and 8- to <17-year-olds (n = 34).

Results: Highest impact Child IXTQ items were: “It bothers me that I have to shut one eye when it is sunny,” “I worry about my eyes,” and “It bothers me because I have to wait for my eyes to clear up.” Highest impact Proxy IXTQ items were: “It bothers my child because he/she has to shut one eye when it is sunny” and “My child worries about his/her eyes.” Lowest impact Child and Proxy items were “My eyes make it hard to make friends” and “Kids tease me because of my eyes.” Ranking of items was similar for younger and older children.

Conclusions: The greatest HRQOL concerns for children with intermittent XT were shutting one eye when sunny, waiting for their eyes to clear up, and worrying about their eyes. Items related to teasing and making friends were of least concern. Evaluation of HRQOL concerns using the IXTQ may be helpful in the clinical care of individual patients.

KEYWORDS::

• Intermittent exotropia
• Quality of life
• Strabismus

Declaration of interest: Supported by National Institutes of Health Grants EY015799 (JMH), EY018810 (JMH), Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York (JMH as Olga Keith Weiss Scholar and an unrestricted grant to the Department of Ophthalmology, Mayo Clinic), and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota. None of the sponsors or funding organizations had a role in the design or conduct of this research. No authors have any financial/conflicting interests to disclose.