Reduced vision, refractive errors and health-related quality of life among adolescents in rural China

To determine the associations of reduced presenting visual acuity (VA), refractive errors and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in healthy adolescents in rural China.

A total of 2,235 grade 7 students without systemic medical problems from 10 middle schools aged 13-14 years in Mojiang, a small county located in southwestern China, were included in the analysis. Reduced VA was defined as presenting VA of worse than 6/12 in the presence of an ophthalmic aetiology which could be identified. The refractive status of each participant was measured after cycloplegia using an autorefractor. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0 Generic Core Scales was used for measuring HRQoL of the participants.

Among all the participants included in the data analysis, 279 (12.5 per cent) individuals were affected by reduced VA based on the better-seeing eye data. After adjusting for the effect of gender, body mass index, the education level of the father, and the use of a corrective device, the total (adjusted mean difference: -3.27; 95 per cent confidence interval [CI] -4.95 to -1.59; p = 0.01), social functioning (adjusted mean difference: -3.44; 95 per cent CI -5.87 to -1.01; p = 0.02) and school functioning scores (adjusted mean difference: -3.12; 95 per cent CI -5.89 to -0.35; p = 0.04) of the adolescents with reduced presenting VA were significantly lower compared with those with normal vision. The associations between corrected refractive errors and HRQoL were not significant.

Healthy adolescents with reduced VA reported lower HRQoL scores including total, social functioning and school functioning scores, compared with those with normal vision.