Childhood visual impairment and health-related quality of life in Ghana: evidence from a cross-sectional study.

Authors

Nana Akwasi Owusu Mensah, Josephine Ampomah Boateng, Isaiah Osei Duah Junior, Albert Kwadjo Amoah Andoh, Godsway Commanda Osei, Sylvester Kyeremeh, Sylvia Agyekum, Gabriel Kwaku Agbeshie, Werner Eisenbarth, Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo

Published in

Health and quality of life outcomes. Jun 27, 2026. Epub Jun 27, 2026.

Abstract

Although visual impairment (VI) is known to affect children's development, there is limited evidence on how VI influences health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among children in Ghana. This study aimed to assess the relationship between childhood VI and HRQoL.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among children aged 2 to 18 years in selected districts of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. Comprehensive ocular assessments including visual acuity (VA), refraction, and anterior and posterior segment evaluations were performed. Health-related quality of life was measured using the PedsQL 4.0 across physical, emotional, social, and school functioning domains. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-tests, and linear regression.
A total of 581 children participated (mean ± SD age: 8.64 ± 4.00 years), with females representing 53.0% of the sample. Both child-reported and parent-reported scores showed significantly reduced HRQoL among children with VI across all PedsQL domains compared with children without VI, with school (p < 0.001) and emotional (p = 0.005) functions of child-reported showing statistical significance. Presenting VI was a significant predictor of poor overall HRQoL in both simple (β= -10.351, p < 0.001) and multiple linear regression models (β= -5.650, p = 0.016). No significant associations (p > 0.05) were found between HRQoL and sociodemographic variables, including sex, age, ethnicity, work status, and health insurance.
Childhood VI is associated with substantial reductions in multiple dimensions of HRQoL. These findings underscore the need to strengthen early detection, clinical management, and school-based vision support services to improve pediatric eye care in Ghana.

PMID:
42365291
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Jun 2026.

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