Quality of life and mental health in amblyopic children treated with and without occlusion therapy

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the long-term (≥1 year) psychosocial effects of occlusion therapy in children with refractive amblyopia and their caregivers.

Methods: Multiple self-reported questionnaires were used to investigate HRQoL, anxiety, depression, and stress in a cross-sectional study of children with refractive amblyopia and their caregivers. Children were divided into two subgroups: those treated with glasses only and those treated with both glasses and occlusion therapy who had stopped wearing a patch at least 1 year earlier.

Results: A total of 79 children were included: 32 in the refraction-only group and 47 in the glasses + occlusion group. Median age of subjects was 12 years (IQR = 3.0). Mean age of the 79 caregivers was 41.9 ± 5.0 years. No significant differences were found for any of the psychosocial outcomes analyzed between children treated with glasses and patching and those treated with glasses only. The differences remained insignificant between children according to age of first occlusion (<6 vs ≥6 years). The only significant (but not clinically relevant) difference observed for caregivers was a higher score in the depression dimension of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for caregivers of children treated with glasses only (P = 0.036; effect size = 0.23).

Conclusions: In our study cohort, patching was not associated with long-term negative psychosocial outcomes in children with refractive amblyopia treated with occlusion therapy.