Relationship Between Reading Items of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (VFQ) and Reading Speed

Abstract

Purpose: : The ability to read is an important element of vision-related function in patients with AMD. The VFQ contains 2 items that assess patient reported reading. Reading speed is a performance based measure that can help assess the validity of VFQ reading items. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the concurrent validity of reported reading ability and measured reading speed.

Methods: : Cross-sectional, non-drug study of 92 neovascular AMD subjects. VFQ reading items are how much difficulty subjects have "reading ordinary print in newspapers" and "reading the small print in a telephone book, or on a medicine bottle, or on legal forms." A standardized reading speed test was performed and recorded as the words per minute (wpm) read correctly. Correlations of VFQ reading items and reading speed were calculated. Visual acuity (VA) was assessed.

Results: : 92 subjects were enrolled. The median visual acuity was 20/40 for the better eye and 20/125 for the worse eye. For "reading ordinary print," 42.4% of subjects reported no or little difficulty, 23.9% had moderate difficulty, and 32.6% had extreme difficulty or stopped the activity due to vision. For "reading small print," 39.5% had no or little difficulty, 20.9% had moderate difficulty, and 39.5% had extreme difficulty or stopped the activity due to vision. Mean reading speed for the better eye was 105 wpm and 76 wpm for the worse eye. The correlation between "reading ordinary print" and reading speed was -0.39 for the better eye and -0.28 for the worse eye. For "reading small print" the reading speed correlation was -0.41 for the better eye and -0.21 for the worse eye.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • reading • quality of life