Purpose:
To determine the relationship between self-reported quality of life (QoL) and discrete stages of glaucomatous visual impairment.
Methods:
194 glaucoma patients ages 24-93, 98 female, 96 male, all without visually significant ocular comorbidity completed the 25-Item National Eye Institute’s Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ) and monocular 24-2 SITA Standard Humphrey visual fields in each eye. Patients were grouped into five discrete stages of impairment using the Hodapp-Parrish-Anderson (HPA) grading system based on their worse seeing eyes. Statistical analysis was conducted to identify significant differences in self-reported QoL between patients with different stages of glaucomatous impairment.
Results:
Comparisons between early and late HPA stages were associated with increasing numbers of statistically significant differences in VFQ total and subscale scores. (Table 1) The earliest statistically significant differences in self-reported QoL existed between HPA groups 1 & 2 and related to driving.
Conclusions:
Patients generally remain asymptomatic until they have moderate to severe visual field loss in their worse seeing eye; however, earlier self-perceived limitations in driving may be present in the minimal to early stages of impairment.
Keywords: quality of life • visual fields