[Psychological and social aspects of patients with keratoconus]

Keratoconus is a progressive and non-inflammatory ectasia of the cornea, mostly bilateral causing low vision because of the irregular astigmatism. The influence of the disease on quality of life is dependent on limiting factors and personality type.

To verify quality of life and personality type of the person with keratoconus.

Sixty-eight individuals with keratoconus and 52 without the ocular disease were studied. The following data were collected: personal demographic data, keratoconus measurements and specific questions, complete ophthalmologic examination, measurement of quality of life and personality type using standardized instruments.

Both groups were demographically similar and comparable. SF-36 and MIPS differed between keratoconus and control patients. SF-36 scores showed that the keratoconus group had lower scores regarding the physical component (353.0 +/- 58.2 x 379.1 +/- 52.9) (p=0.005) as well as the mental component (326.3 +/- 89.9 x 364.2 +/- 66.4) (p=0.004), mainly functional capacity (86.3 +/- 9.7 x 92.6 +/- 9.7) (p<0.0001) and general health (76.8 +/- 16.9 x 83.5 +/- 16.5) (p=0.014). MIPS scores showed that patients with keratoconus were significantly more pain avoiding (p=0.007) presented more, imaginative intuition (p=0.004), asocial withdrawal (p=0.014) and anxious hesitation (p=0.010) than the control group.

The results showed psychosocial impairment in the keratoconus group. Keratoconus influenced the quality of life expressed by the SF-36. MIPS showed keratoconus patients to be more pain avoiding, with more imaginative intuition, asocial withdrawal and anxious hesitation than the control group.