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Spectacle correction improves quality of life, depression in nursing home residents
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Using spectacles to correct the refractive errors of nursing home residents improves their quality of life and reduces symptoms of depression, according to a study by researchers in Alabama.
Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham compared the quality of life and depressive symptoms between 78 patients who received immediate refractive error correction with spectacles and 64 patients who received such correction after a 2-month delay. All patients were aged 55 years or older and were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups, according to the study.
The researchers evaluated patients using the Nursing Home Vision-Targeted Health-Related Quality-of-Life Questionnaire and the VF-14. They also used the Geriatric Depression Scale to evaluate depressive symptoms.
Compared with the delayed correction group, the immediate correction group had higher scores on the Nursing Home Vision-Targeted Health-Related Quality-of-Life Questionnaire subscales of general vision, reading, psychological distress, activities and hobbies, and social interaction at 2 months follow-up (P < .04), the authors reported.
In addition, the immediate correction group had higher scores on the VF-14 (P < .001) and fewer depressive symptoms on the Geriatric Depression Scale (P = .003), adjusting for mental status and baseline outcome variables, according to the study.
"This study implies that there are significant, short-term quality-of-life and psychological benefits to providing the most basic of eye care services — namely, spectacle correction — to older adults residing in nursing homes," the authors said.
The study is published in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.