The impact of childhood amblyopia on the quality of life of pediatric population at King Abdulaziz medical city in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

To measure the quality of life in the pediatric population with amblyopia at National Guard Health Affairs Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, our study used a non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Participants’ eligibility criteria included amblyopic patients within the pediatric age group. Patients’ contact information was collected from medical records in King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Phone calls were utilized to contact the patients’ guardians and to complete the questionnaires. Data was pooled in a spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS v.26.0. Categorical data were described using frequency and percentages. Likert-scale questions were described using frequency and percentages along with mean and standard deviation. Reliability analysis was done for each domain to calculate Cronbach’s alpha. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.00 was used for the analysis. Sixty participants were included in this study; almost half of the children had struggles in seeing moving objects, which resulted in 35% having difficulties catching a moving object while playing, observing pictures and words, and learning new things at school. There was a non-negligible percentage who had missing days of school attendance due to vision issues and clinic appointments. Cronbach's alpha was calculated for all of the domains; most of the values were above 0.8, with some of the values reaching above 0.9, indicating good to excellent internal consistency. The study concluded that amblyopia has a huge effect on children’s quality of life and their families. A limited number of papers pertaining to the prevalence, impact, and quality of life of patients affected by amblyopia are available in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, more studies are recommended to tackle the same topic and to make it feasible to generalize the results in Saudi Arabia, yielding a more accurate conclusion.