Review of the impact of presbyopia on quality of life in the developing and developed world

Abstract

ABSTRACT.Purpose: To examine the public health impact of presbyopia regarding its effect on quality of life (QoL) and society in both the developed and developing worlds. Methods: A database was created from articles found on PubMed, the Cochrane Library and Science Direct using the following search terms: presbyopia, QoL, accommodation, impact, cost, prevention, treatment and public health. Articles were accepted into the database if they addressed presbyopia and public health.Results: This study showed in the developed world presbyopic subjects treated with reading glasses suffered a reduction in QoL parameters compared with those who were younger and emmetropic. A small minority of subjects were assessed to be a candidate for additional non-spectacle treatment measures. In undeveloped areas, the manifestations of presbyopia were similar to the developed world in symptoms, age and reduced QoL. However, there was inadequate treatment of this condition, even with reading glasses. The availability of reading glasses ranged from 6 to 45%. Activities of daily living could not be accomplished as easily without near correction of reading. Reasons described for the lack of correction included: lack of access to medical care, poor awareness of decreased near vision, lack of motivation and cost. Overall scant data exist regarding presbyopia and its impact and how treatment affects QoL. Conclusions: This review suggests that the effect of presbyopia and its treatments on QoL remain poorly described and incompletely treated, especially in developing areas of the world.

Prevalence, Correlates, and Impact of Uncorrected Presbyopia in a Multiethnic Asian Population

“…Nevertheless, further studies to investigate the reasons underlying these gender and ethnicity associations with uncorrected presbyopia are warranted.In myopic individuals, gender and income were not found to be associated with uncorrected presbyopia. This finding may be attributed to the fact that myopic individuals, regardless of gender or income, will most likely also undergo a near vision check and obtain near vision correction while attending refractive screening follow-up for myopia.Our results support the previously limited research showing a detrimental impact of uncorrected presbyopia on overall and near vision-related QoL 4. However, to our knowledge, our study is the first to demonstrate that distance visual tasks are also negatively affected in people with uncorrected presbyopia, independent of distance VA, albeit with less detrimental impact than near visual tasks.…”

“…3 While not a blinding condition, presbyopia significantly reduces quality of life (QoL) especially if not corrected. 4 However, direct estimates of the prevalence of uncorrected presbyopia, its associated risk factors, and its impact on QoL are limited, particularly in Asian populations.…”

The effect of ageing on the ocular surface parameters

“…Decades of knowledge about DED has been collected within the new DEWS II report [15] that confirm the great impact of this multifactorial disease on the ocular surface and on the lifestyle of the people who suffer from it, mostly from aged 40 when the presbyopia arises [12,16]. From these epidemiological data and considering that the most prevalence condition related with ageing is presbyopia [16], there are many patients worldwide in which both presbyopia and DED co-exist.…”

“…From these epidemiological data and considering that the most prevalence condition related with ageing is presbyopia [16], there are many patients worldwide in which both presbyopia and DED co-exist. Currently, multifocal contact lenses (MCLs) [17,18] and multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) [19] are both well-established and an effective way to compensate the presbyopia, reducing spectacle dependency.…”

The World Burden of Refractive Blindness

“…Several studies have shown reduced quality of life in both the developed and developing world. [6][7][8][9] In an elderly …”