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Impact of ocular graft‐versus‐host disease on visual quality of life in patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: questionnaire study
Author(s) -
Riemens Anjo,
te Boome Liane C. J.,
Kalinina Ayuso Viera,
Kuiper Jonas J. W.,
Imhof Saskia M.,
Lokhorst Henk M.,
Aniki Rothova
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/aos.12047
Subject(s) - medicine , graft versus host disease , quality of life (healthcare) , transplantation , disease , stem cell , gastroenterology , surgery , nursing , biology , genetics
. Purpose: To determine the influence of ocular complications on quality of life (QoL) 3 years after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo‐SCT). Methods: All 54 adult patients that underwent and survived allo‐SCT in 2006/2007 in our centre received two questionnaires (VFQ‐25: visual function questionnaire‐25 and OSDI: ocular surface disease index). In addition, the following data were included: gender, age, underlying disease, presence of chronic and/or ocular graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD), number of visits to an ophthalmologist, manifestations of dry eye disease, the duration of follow‐up and treatment for ocular GVHD. Results: Ocular GVHD developed in 26% (14 of 54) of patients and 71% (10 of 14) received treatment for ocular GVHD. The presence of ocular GVHD correlated with the severity of systemic GVHD (correlation coefficient: 0.52, p = 0.00). The Karnofsky scores were significantly lower in the patients with ocular GVHD compared to the patients with no ocular GVHD (p = 0.001). Karnofsky scores were weakly correlated with the severity of systemic GVHD (correlation coefficient: 0.25, p = 0.03. Three years after the all‐SCT, OSDI and VFQ‐25 scores were significantly impaired in patients with ocular GVHD [mean: 76.5; range (46.1–100) and mean: 31.1; range (0–72.9)] compared to patients with no ocular GVHD [mean: 89.4; range (45.2–100) and mean: 12.9; range (0–58.3); p = 0.02]. The scores of the VFQ‐25 were significantly lower in the domains of general health, ocular pain, social functioning and role difficulties. Conclusion: The long‐term vision‐related QoL measured by the OSDI and VFQ‐25 was impaired in patients with ocular GVHD.