Utility index and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting specialist eye care.

Autor: Araujo AL; Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences - Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil., Zanotto BS; Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Etges APBDS; Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Escola Politécnica - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Ruschel KB; Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Moreira TC; Hospital Moinhos de Vento - Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Cabral FC; Hospital Moinhos de Vento - Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Harzheim E; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Gonçalves MR; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Núcleo de Telessaúde do Rio Grande do Sul (TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Umpierre RN; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Núcleo de Telessaúde do Rio Grande do Sul (TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Carvalho F; Post Graduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.; Núcleo de Telessaúde do Rio Grande do Sul (TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Silva RSD; Núcleo de Telessaúde do Rio Grande do Sul (TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil., Polanczyk CA; Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Aug 12; Vol. 19 (8), pp. e0307691. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 12 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307691
Abstrakt: Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain utility and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting access to specialist eye care. A secondary aim was to evaluate the association of utility indices with demographic profile and waiting time.
Methods: Consecutive patients that had been waiting for ophthalmology care answered the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). The questionnaire was administered when patients arrived at the clinics for their first visit. We derived a utility index (VFQ-UI) from the patients' responses, then calculated the correlation between this index and waiting time and compared utility across demographic subgroups stratified by age, sex, and care setting.
Results: 536 individuals participated in the study (mean age 52.9±16.6 years; 370 women, 69% women). The median utility index was 0.85 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.70-0.92; minimum 0.40, maximum 0.97). The mean VFQ-25 score was 70.88±14.59. Utility correlated weakly and nonsignificantly with waiting time (-0.05, P = 0.24). It did not vary across age groups (P = 0.85) or care settings (P = 0.77). Utility was significantly lower for women (0.84, IQR 0.70-0.92) than men (0.87, IQR 0.73-0.93, P = 0.03), but the magnitude of this difference was small (Cohen's d = 0.13).
Conclusion: Patients awaiting access to ophthalmology care had a utility index of 0.85 on a scale of 0 to 1. This measurement was not previously reported in the literature. Utility measures can provide insight into patients' perspectives and support economic health analyses and inform health policies.
Competing Interests: Dr Araujo reported fiduciary role in Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology as member of the Telemedicine, Technology, and Innovation Board receiving non-financial support. Dr Moreira reported financial support for the present manuscript from Institutional Development of the Unified Health System (PROADI-SUS). Dr Polanczyk reported grants or contracts from FAPERGS and CNPq throughout National Institute for Health Technology Assessment – INCT to provide assessment of health technologies, further from Institutional Development of the Unified Health System (PROADI-SUS) throughout Hospital Moinhos de Vento; payment or honoraria for Lectures, presentation and manuscript writing from Novartis, Bayer, Bristol and Amgen; participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board from Novartis and Amgen. No other disclosures were reported.
(Copyright: © 2024 Araujo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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