Xiang Yifan, Jiang Haofeng, Zhao Lanqin, Liu Qiong, Lin Haotian
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Center for Precision Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 12;13:930726. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.930726. eCollection 2022.
Delay in seeking medical services is common in elderly populations, which leads to disease progression and life difficulty. This study aims to assess the prevalence of delay in medical visits and treatment and define associated effects and factors in patients with senile cataract, which may help obtain a better understanding of late-life psychopathology and provide the basis for interventions. Patients aged more than 60 years were prospectively recruited in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC). All participants were diagnosed with binocular senile cataract and decided to have primary surgery in ZOC. The distributions of the popularity of delaying outpatient visits and treatment, the degrees of visual impairment, the influences on quality of life, and the reasons for delaying treatment among participants were accessed by the descriptive statistics. Factors associated with the perceptions of cataract treatment were accessed using a binary logistic regression model. A total of 400 senile patients aged from 60 to 94 years were enrolled. At diagnosis, 82 (20.5%) participants had a low vision with monocular acuity of both eyes below 0.05. All participants have felt that their normal lives were affected, and 64 (16%) participants felt that their lives were affected severely. Only 17 (4.25%) participants have sought for medical services immediately after feeling vision loss, and 294 (73.50%) participants have felt vision loss since a year ago before seeking medical help. A total of 298 (74.50%) participants have delayed the surgery time, and 229 (57.25%) patients delayed it for more than 12 months. There were 147 (36.75%) participants delaying surgery on account of no knowledge about it and 114 (28.50%) participants delaying surgery because of fear. There are a high proportion of elderly patients with senile cataract delaying their outpatient visits and surgery treatment, whose normal lives were severely affected. Increasing medical service propaganda about cataract and other common diseases in elderly populations would probably be helpful for improving perceptions of diseases and decreasing medical delays. Public needs to draw more attention to the healthy and medical status of the elderly ocular patients.
在老年人群中，延迟寻求医疗服务的情况很常见，这会导致疾病进展和生活困难。本研究旨在评估老年白内障患者延迟就诊和治疗的患病率，并确定相关影响及因素，这可能有助于更好地理解老年期精神病理学，并为干预措施提供依据。60岁以上的患者在中山眼科中心（ZOC）被前瞻性招募。所有参与者均被诊断为双眼老年性白内障，并决定在ZOC接受初次手术。通过描述性统计分析参与者延迟门诊就诊和治疗的普遍性、视力损害程度、对生活质量的影响以及延迟治疗的原因。使用二元逻辑回归模型分析与白内障治疗认知相关的因素。共纳入400例年龄在60至94岁之间的老年患者。在诊断时，82例（20.5%）参与者双眼单眼视力低于0.05，为低视力。所有参与者都感到正常生活受到影响，64例（16%）参与者感到生活受到严重影响。只有17例（4.25%）参与者在视力丧失后立即寻求医疗服务，294例（73.50%）参与者在寻求医疗帮助前一年就已感到视力丧失。共有298例（74.50%）参与者延迟了手术时间，229例（57.25%）患者延迟超过12个月。147例（36.75%）参与者因不了解而延迟手术，114例（28.50%）参与者因恐惧而延迟手术。老年白内障患者延迟门诊就诊和手术治疗的比例很高，他们的正常生活受到严重影响。加强对老年人群白内障及其他常见疾病的医疗服务宣传，可能有助于提高对疾病的认知，减少医疗延迟。公众需要更多关注老年眼病患者的健康和医疗状况。
