ABSTRACT
Objective:
To investigate the association between falls and quality of life in elderly individuals with cataract.
Methods:
This was an observational and cross-sectional study carried out in the Federal District, Brazil, with a sample of 38 community-dwelling elderly individuals, who were divided into two groups: falling elderly (n=18) and non-falling elderly (n=20). The NEI-VFQ-25 was used as a tool to assess the patient overall health and the quality of life related to visual health. Sample characterization was performed by descriptive analysis and the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test (p<0.05) was used to evaluate the association between falls and the other variables.
Results:
Elders within the age group ≥ 70 years old were the majority in this study. 36 participants (94.74%) of this study claimed to have some vision problems. Falling elderly presented lower scores when compared to the non-falling elderly (p=0.0159) and they also showed worse mental health (p=0.0001), higher level of dependence (p=0.0008) and greater difficulty to perform up close vision tasks (p=0.0299) and far vision tasks (p=0.0104).
Conclusion:
Falls have a negative impact on the quality of life of elderly individuals with cataract, which makes preventive actions and the treatment and/or correction of visual impairments important in order to avoid future harms.
Keywords:
Cataract; Accidental falls; Quality of life; Aged