Abstract
Purpose::
To measure the quality of visual function and quality of daily living in patients with uveitis and to evaluate the changes within individuals over time.
Methods::
Consecutive patients with noninfectious uveitis were enrolled. The National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire, version August 2000 (NEI VFQ-25) and the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36 Item Short Form Health Survey Instrument (SF-36) (RAND 36-Item Health Survey 1.0 Questionnaire) were administered by a trained interviewer. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected by subject report and chart review. Trained telephone interviewers administered the NEI-VFQ as part of 6 month follow-up data collection. Changes in visual acuity, NEI-VFQ, MOS SF-36 scores from baseline to 6 months were analyzed using linear regression methods.
Results::
Fifty patients were enrolled. Interim analysis of forty five patients was performed. The demographic characteristics of these patients showed mean age was 42 years old (range 18-72 years) and 71% were female. Forty four percent were African American and 13 % were white. Twenty nine percent completed some college. Twenty nine percent earned $30,000 or more in annual household income. The clinical characteristics of this population twenty nine percent was diagnosed with anterior uveitis, 7% had posterior uveitis, 22% had panuveitis and 4% had other inflammatory eye disease involvement. All patients had chronic disease. Evaluation of the NEI VFQ-25 scores. Patients with posterior uveitis or panuveitis had significantly lower general health and vision specific mental health scores than patients with anterior uveitis. Patients with posterior and panuveitis generally showed a lower visual functioning score than patients with anterior uveitis. Twenty patients had both interviews at 6 months after enrollment. Changes within individuals in the overall NEI-VFQ score and in medical outcomes were related to changes in ocular and medical comorbidity based on linear regression analysis (P<.05)
Conclusions::
This study confirms that uveitis profoundly affects vision-related quality of life. The patients with posterior and panuveitis cases showed the visual functioning and quality of life was slightly poorer than patients with anterior uveitis disease. The NEI-VFQ can be a valuable tool used to measure mean change in visual function and general health status over time which can assist clinicians and patients to understand the impact of the disease and its therapy on their quality of life.
Clinical Trial::
www.clinicaltrials.gov 07-A-6803
Keywords: quality of life • uveitis-clinical/animal model • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: outcomes/complications