Clinical and Diagnostic Efficiency of the Study of the Quality of Life According to the Questionnaires PHEC-22 and Catquest-9SF after Bilateral Cataract Phacoemulsification and Monofocal IOL Implantation

Purpose : сomparative clinical and diagnostic efficiency of the quality of life (QОL) according to the PHEC-22 and Catquest-9SF questionnaires after bilateral cataract phacoemulsification and monofocal IOL implantation. Patients and Methods . We observed 148 patients with binocular cataract (mean age 58.6 ± 1.8 years). All patients underwent standard cataract phacoemulsification with implantation of a monofocal IOL. Patients were examined before and after (one month after surgery on the second eye) surgery. The results of the survey on the questionnaires PHEC-22 and Catquest-9SF were evaluated by the general indicator of testing (GIT) as the sum of points for all questions (taking into account the “weight” coefficients in the questionnaire PHEC-22). Along with this, each of the patients underwent a study of binocular BCVA. Results. A statistically significantly higher clinical and diagnostic efficiency of the PHEC-22 questionnaire compared to Catquest-9SF was established, which is confirmed by a higher (by 0.17 rel. units, p < 0.01) level of correlation with BCVA, as well as a higher probability of compliance of the QOL level with the BCVA range, especially at low (0.4 and less rel. units, by 18.5 %, p < 0.01) and medium (0.5–0,8 relative units, by 7.3 %, p < 0.05) values of BCVA, while in the range of BCVA 0.9–1.0 relative units, no significant differences between the questionnaires were found (p > 0.05). Conclusion . The results of a comparative study after bilateral cataract phacoemulsification and monofocal IOL implantation using the PHEC-22 and Catquest-9SF questionnaires revealed a significantly higher clinical and diagnostic efficiency of the PHEC-22 questionnaire, which is associated with the methodological principles for developing a questionnaire based on the “social model” of health with the involvement of expert ophthalmologists and the use of the optimal procedure for scaling the patient’s responses. The results obtained (taking into account clinical normalization) allow us to recommend the PHEC-22 questionnaire for inclusion in the complex diagnosis of patients with cataracts both before and after surgery in solving a number of urgent problems — a comparative assessment of IOL, a study of the effectiveness of methods for postoperative rehabilitation of patients, the choice of the optimal formula for calculating IOL and some others.