Quality of Life among Patients with Glaucoma in Gaza Governorates

Background : Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Quality of Life (QOL) has emerged as an important parameter for assessing the quality of health care of patients with Glaucoma disease. This study assessed QOL among Glaucoma patients in Gaza Governorates and the factors influencing their life conditions. Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study included 265 eligible glaucoma patients from Al Nasser Ophthalmic Hospital and European Gaza Hospital. Socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics in addition to QOL data were collected using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. Results : Study participants had a medium level of QOL scores. The mean score for GQL-15 was 59.2 ± 17.6. The greatest difficulty was in activities involving glare and dark adaptation (48.5±18.0), while least difficulty for outdoor mobility (66.6±25.4). The overall mean percentage of SF-36 domain scores was 61.7±13.5. The bodily pain domain got the highest score (79.4); the social function domain was (72.22); and the lowest domain was General Health (48.58). Findings also showed that participants without ocular diseases and comorbidities had better QOL. Moreover, patients with higher educational level, higher income and disease duration less than 5 years had better QOL scores. Conclusion: Glaucoma has moderately negative effects on people’s ability to function independently in every field of their lives. Glaucoma patients should be educated to understand the prognosis of the disease and importance of the adherence to the daily treatment to improve their QOL.