Quality of Life Measures in Patients with Retinal Degeneration

Abstract

Purpose : A cross-sectional study to assess the impact of inherited retinal dystrophies and contrast sensitivity function (CSF) on the quality of life.

Methods : Twenty male patients (mean age 36 years ±11 SD) with genetically confirmed retinal dystrophies seen in the Oxford Eye Hospital underwent binocular CSF testing (Cambridge Research Systems, Cambridge, UK) and completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire - 25 (VFQ-25) and the Daily Living Tasks Dependent on Vision (DLTV) questionnaire. The VFQ-25 composite score was calculated as a sum of 11 sub-scores, covering 11 aspects of daily living including mental health and social function. The DLTV was used to assess impact of vision loss on tasks of daily living, and scored by summing the scores of the 22 core items, resulting in scores ranging from 22 (signifying severe difficulty in visual performance) to 88 (representing no difficulty with visual tasks).

The contrast sensitivity for each patient was measured at five spatial frequencies (1, 2, 4, 8 and 10) and an area under the curve was calculated to summarize all the spatial frequency data in a single number. The single value CSF was then correlated to the questionnaire results using regression analysis. An alpha value of 5% was used as the significance criterion for the tests.

Results : The DLTV and VFQ-25 scores ranged from 46-85 and 30-84 respectively and the average CSF was 24.6±15.6. A statistically significant correlation was noted between the VFQ-25 composite scores and the CSF (r=0.56, p=0.01) whereas correlation between the DLTV scores and CSF was not significant (r=0.37, p=0.106).

Conclusions : These represent interim analysis from an ongoing study. The VFQ-25 questionnaire revealed a significant correlation between deterioration of quality of life and reduction in contrast sensitivity function in inherited retinal degenerations. The lack of association detected by the DLTV may be due to the test focusing on high contrast related visual functions, whereas the VFQ-25 covers a wider spectrum of visual functions as well as psychological measures. These findings might be helpful in assessing quality of life improvements in patients undergoing novel treatments for inherited retinal dystrophies.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.