VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN THE ELDERLY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE
VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN THE ELDERLY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE

Summary/Abstract: According to data of United Nations, it is estimated that the global share of people aged 60 years or over will increase from 841 million people (11.7%) in 2013 to more than 2 billion (21.1%) by 2050 (UN DESAPD, 2013). This burden can be reduced by the abilities of older persons to increase their independently lifestyle, and financially self-support through their own labor earnings, income from their assets, and through public transfers, but all of these are dependent by their health status and quality of life (WHO 2012). In this context, visual impairment and its consequences represent an important element of the burden of the disease, even more than dementia, hearing loss and osteo-arthritis, and also, a factor that altered quality of life of this category of individuals. It was realized a cross-sectional research on a sample comprised of 53 patients with diagnosis of cataract, sample homogenous regarding gender (26 males, 27 females) and age (average age 70.1±8.3 years) of patients. Quality of life were assessed at the baseline and after one month follow-up by WHO-5 Well-Being Index, a psychometric tool who can be used also to screen all patients showing signs of depression (cut-off point <13) (WHO, 1998). Significant correlations were found between the presence of cataract and both impaired quality of life expressed through the level of well-being and sleep disorders in elderly patients. Both the quality of life and sleep disorders improved after cataract surgery, which proved the importance of the intervention.

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