Vision related quality-of-life among patients with traumatic or non-traumatic ocular disease and its association with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act: Unveiling-the-hidden

PURPOSE: To assess vision-related quality of life (VrQoL) in cases with visual loss after ocular trauma (OT) or non-traumatic ocular disease (NTOD) using the National Eye Institute’s 25-Item Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25) and its association with visual disability % (VD%) based on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study conducted among cases with ocular morbidity in either or both eyes with a visual acuity of ≤6/24. VFQ-25 questionnaire was administered to measure QoL scores. Statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. P < 0.05 was taken as significant. RESULTS: Eighty-eight respondents completed the questionnaire. Mean age of participants was 40.272 ± 9.35 years (range: 23–55 years). Forty-three (48.9%) and 45 (51.1%) participants had OT and NTOD, respectively. The most common cause was traumatic optic neuropathy (21.6%) followed by corneal causes (19.4%). Low visual QoL scores were reported in all the cases (57.52 ± 16.08). Between OT and NTOD, a significant difference in terms of age (P = 0.001) and general vision (P = 0.03) was seen. Lowest scores were for driving. Based on VD%, 77 cases had ≤40 and the rest had >40% VD with a significant difference in overall mean scores (P = 0.03), specifically in domains of general vision (P = 0.00), near activities (P = 0.00), and driving (P = 0.007). QoL was decreased in each subscale of ≤40%VD group, who faced the same predicament everywhere as by the cases with more disability. CONCLUSION: Ocular morbidity is associated with low QoL, predominantly in domains like general vision, near activities and driving. The RPwD Act leaves out a huge population with VD without any government benefits. One might need to consider other vision-related factors also to provide them with social, psychological, and employment benefits.