Abstract
Purpose :
Task performance is affected by glaucomatous visual field loss. People often use a compensatory strategy singly or in combination to manage the effects of disease to perform daily life tasks. Yet, they may still have difficulty performing daily life tasks. This analysis of cross-sectional data explored the relationship between glaucoma severity and difficulty performing daily life tasks.
Methods :
We recruited community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and older with glaucoma, no other ocular comorbidities, who underwent full ophthalmic evaluation. We measured glaucoma severity (visual field mean deviation [MD]) and task difficulty (Assessment of Life Habits [LIFE-H]). LIFE-H assesses performance of daily life tasks, in particular task difficulty and use of compensatory strategy. Correlation analyses and logistic regression were conducted to evaluate the association between MD and task difficulty.
Results :
Subjects (n=87) on average were aged 60 years (range 50-89) and had early stage glaucoma (MD better-seeing eye [Median (Q1, Q3)], -2.45 dB [-4.28, -0.54]). Subjects reported difficulty performing daily life tasks even when they used a compensatory strategy: 48% reported difficulty when using an assistive device/adaptation, 89% reported difficulty when also receiving human assistance, 83% reported difficulty when using both an assistive device/adaptation and human assistance. MD had a negative relationship with task difficulty (Figure;
Spearman rho=-0.37, p<0.01). For each 1 dB of worsening MD the odds of reporting difficulty performing daily life tasks increased 0.15 (OR=1.15, p<0.01; age-adjusted). Similar results were obtained with the worse-seeing eye.
Conclusions :
Our results indicate that task difficulty is related to glaucoma severity. As glaucoma progresses, clinicians need to be aware of its effect on performance of daily life tasks, suggesting consult with vision rehabilitation as disease deteriorates.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.