Association of refractive error with vision-related quality of life in junior high school students

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE To evaluate the relationship between refractive error and vision-related quality of life in 16-year-old students in Taiwan. METHODS A cross-sectional study was designed for 16-year junior-high-school students in Taiwan. Myopia was defined as a spherical refractive error (SRE) < -0.50 D, hyperopia as SRE > +1.0 D, and emmetropia as SRE -0.5-+1.0 D in the better eye. Vision-related quality of life was assessed using the Taiwan Chinese version of the 25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire. RESULTS Of the 688 participants, 466 (68%) had myopia and 22 (3%) had hyperopia. In logistic-regression models adjusted for gender, parents' education, family income, and parental refractive error, myopia was an independent risk factor of poorer vision-related quality of life for both near vision (odds ratio 1.73, 95% confidence interval 1.22-2.45) and distance vision (odds ratio 3.11, 95% confidence interval 2.23-4.35). Hyperopia was not associated with near- or distance-vision difficulty. CONCLUSION In this study population, myopia was associated with difficulties in near and distance vision compared to emmetropia. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings in other populations.