Impact of strabismus on the quality of life of Chinese Han teenagers

BACKGROUND Although much research has been conducted on the impact of strabismus on the quality of life (QoL) of adults, the effect of this condition on teenagers has not been extensively studied. This study therefore aimed to assess the effect of strabismus on the vision-related QoL of Chinese teenagers. METHODS The Chinese version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) was self-administered by 1,040 teenagers with strabismus and 1,002 individuals with normal vision. All the participants were from the Chinese Han population. The independent samples t-test was used to compare QoL between teenagers with and without strabismus. RESULTS The majority of scores on the NEI-VFQ-25 domains were significantly different between the two groups. QoL was significantly lower in individuals with strabismus compared with teenagers with normal vision on all domains, with the exception of social functioning. CONCLUSION Statistically significantly lower vision-related QoL scores were found in Chinese Han teenagers with strabismus compared with those without strabismus.