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Abstract
Purpose
The study aimed to examine the effect of visual impairment (VI), eye diseases, and other risk factors on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in nursing home residents in Armenia.
Methods
This cross-sectional study administered an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire to collect information about socio-demographics, chronic diseases, HRQoL, smoking, receiving and giving instrumental/emotional social support, and sleeping disorders among 313 nursing home residents. An ophthalmic examination of the participants was conducted.
Results
The mean age was 72.5 years, ranging from 45.5 to 91.4. Women constituted 50% of the sample. The prevalence of normal vision by presenting visual acuity with available correction was 55.3%, while VI and blindness were present in 40.8% and 3.9%, respectively. Uncorrected refractive error (URE) was found in 20% of participants. The mean HRQoL score was 51.3, ranging from 7.9 to 95.0. In the adjusted analysis, having at least one chronic non-communicable disease, sleeping disorders, eye diseases, URE, VI, blindness, and giving instrumental social support were associated with HRQoL.
Conclusions
Regular eye care services could improve the eye health and HRQoL of nursing home residents. Interventions addressing vision loss and chronic non-communicable diseases could enhance the functioning and overall well-being of the target population.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
Visual impairment, as a leading cause of disability in older adults, leads to reduced health-related quality of life.
This study found a high prevalence of visual impairment, blindness, and uncorrected refractive errors among nursing home residents.
Visual impairment, blindness, uncorrected refractive error, chronic non-communicable diseases, sleep disorders, eye diseases, and instrumental social support were associated with health-related quality of life.
Regular eye screening, treatment programs, and distribution of spectacles could improve eye health and health-related quality of life in nursing home residents.
Acknowledgments
We are thankful to the study participants for their support during the implementation of the study.
Research ethics and patient consent
The Institutional Review Board of the American University of Armenia approved the research protocol (PROTOCOL #: AUA-2021-012). All participants gave oral consent before participation. This study adhered to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Disclosure statement
This manuscript has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by any other journal. The abstract of this paper was presented at European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER) Congress in Valencia, Spain in 2022.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [AG], upon reasonable request.