What explains health in persons with visual impairment?

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Science
• Public Health
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Visual impairment significantly impacts daily functioning and overall well-being.
• The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a comprehensive model for understanding health and disability.
• The ICF framework's holistic approach is well-suited to capture the multifaceted experience of visual impairment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of the ICF framework in comprehensively describing functional limitations and environmental influences in individuals with visual impairment.
• To identify specific ICF categories that best represent the self-perceived health of persons experiencing visual impairment.

Main Methods:

• Data from 105 individuals with visual impairment were collected, including socio-demographic, vision-specific, and self-perceived health measures (EuroQoL-5D VAS).
• The Extended ICF Checklist was utilized to assess functioning and environmental factors.
• Descriptive statistics and Group Lasso regression analysis were employed to identify key ICF categories.

Main Results:

• 120 ICF categories were identified, encompassing body functions, body structures, activities, participation, and environmental factors.
• Group Lasso regression identified 13 key ICF categories most relevant to self-perceived health.
• While activities and participation categories were frequently selected, body function categories demonstrated the most significant impact on self-perceived health.

Conclusions:

• The ICF framework provides a robust and comprehensive method for describing the functional challenges and environmental context of visual impairment.
• Environmental factors and numerous ICF categories are highly relevant but often overlooked in visual impairment research and patient-reported outcome measures.
• The study highlights the importance of considering a broad range of ICF categories, especially environmental factors, for a complete understanding of visual impairment.