Barry John A, Mollan Susan, Burdon Michael A, Jenkins Michelle, Denniston Alastair K
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Department of Psychology, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2017 Oct 2;17(1):179. doi: 10.1186/s12886-017-0579-z.
Congenital colour vision deficiency (CVD), commonly called 'colour blindness', affects around 8% of men and 0.4% of women. Although many aspects of health (e.g. change in colour of urine) and healthcare (e.g. coloured medication, colour-coded diagnostic tests), and modern life depend upon colour coding (e.g. graphs, maps, signals), the impact of colour blindness on everyday life is not generally considered a topic of importance. This study is the first to create and validate a questionnaire measuring the quality of life (QoL) impact of being colour blind.
This study consisted of two phases. Firstly, the questionnaire design and development phase was led by an expert panel and piloted on a focus group. Secondly, an online sample of 128 men and 291 women filled in the questionnaire, and the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). The scores of colour blind (CB) participants and normal-sighted controls, controlling for age and sex, were compared using matched t-tests.
The PCA resulted in a questionnaire with three domains (or subscales): QoL for Health & Lifestyle, QoL for Work, and QoL for Emotions. Controlling for age, there was a significantly greater negative impact on QoL for CB people than normal-sighted controls in regards to confusion over colour in various aspects of their health (p = 5 × 10), work (p = 1.3 × 10), and emotional life (p = 6 × 10).
Colour blindness can significantly impact quality of life for health, emotions, and especially careers. The tool developed here could be useful in future clinical studies to measure changes in CBQoL in response to therapy in conditions where colour vision is affected. We also discuss ways in which everyday problems related to colour vision might be reduced, for example, workplaces could avoid colour coding where a non-colour alternative is possible.
先天性色觉缺陷(CVD),通常称为“色盲”,影响约8%的男性和0.4%的女性。尽管健康的许多方面(如尿液颜色变化)、医疗保健(如有色药物、颜色编码的诊断测试)以及现代生活都依赖于颜色编码(如图表、地图、信号),但色盲对日常生活的影响通常不被视为一个重要话题。本研究首次创建并验证了一份测量色盲对生活质量(QoL)影响的问卷。
本研究包括两个阶段。首先,问卷设计和开发阶段由一个专家小组主导,并在一个焦点小组中进行试点。其次,128名男性和291名女性的在线样本填写了问卷,并使用主成分分析(PCA)分析问卷的心理测量特性。使用配对t检验比较色盲(CB)参与者和正常视力对照组在控制年龄和性别的情况下的得分。
PCA得出了一份包含三个领域(或子量表)的问卷:健康与生活方式的生活质量、工作的生活质量和情绪的生活质量。在控制年龄的情况下,色盲人群在健康的各个方面(p = 5×10)、工作(p = 1.3×10)和情感生活(p = 6×10)中对颜色的困惑方面,对生活质量的负面影响明显大于正常视力对照组。
色盲会对健康、情绪,尤其是职业方面的生活质量产生显著影响。这里开发的工具可能在未来的临床研究中有用,以测量在色觉受影响的情况下,色盲生活质量(CBQoL)对治疗的反应变化。我们还讨论了减少与色觉相关的日常问题的方法,例如,工作场所可以在可能的情况下避免颜色编码,采用非颜色替代方案。