Abstract
Purpose :
To describe QoL in participants who did/did not develop POAG
Methods :
National Eye Institute Vision Function Questionnaire-25 (VFQ) and Glaucoma Quality of Life 15 item survey (GQL) were administered at the 20 year follow-up visit which included IOP, Humphrey 24-2 visual fields (VF), Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity (CS), and ETDRS visual acuity (VA). POAG was defined as reproducible VF loss or reproducible clinically significant optic disc deterioration as determined by masked graders at Reading Centers and attributed to glaucoma by a masked Endpoint Committee. Rasch calibrated total scores were estimated for both VFQ and GQL. The scores were rescaled as 0 to 100, with higher values indicating better QoL. Linear regressions were used to assess their association with clinical and demographic characteristics. Participants who did not develop POAG serve as the reference group. Participants who developed POAG were divided into 4 mutually exclusive groups: optic disc POAG (unilateral or bilateral) and visual field POAG (unilateral or bilateral).
Results :
80% of known survivors (679/843) completed examination and VFQ and/or GQL. Median follow-up was 22 years, mean age 74+8 SD years, 25% African ancestry, and 61% female. 53% (358/679) did not develop POAG. Among participants who developed POAG (n=321), 28% were unilateral disc POAG, 19% bilateral optic disc POAG, 33% unilateral VF POAG and 20% bilateral VF POAG. Table 1 reports Rasch calibrated scores for these groups.
In univariate analyses, VFQ scores in both unilateral and bilateral disc POAG groups did not differ from No POAG group (p=0.92 and p=0.64 respectively). VFQ scores in both unilateral and bilateral VF POAG groups were lower than the No POAG group (p=0.033 and p=0.001 respectively). Factors predictive of VFQ in multivariable analyses included bilateral VF POAG, MD, CS, VA, sex, number of systemic comorbidities and treatment/surgery for ocular diseases other than glaucoma (Table 2). Profile of factors was similar for GQL except that CS was not selected (Table 2).
Conclusions :
QoL in participants who developed preperimetric POAG in one or both eyes did not differ from age-similar participants who did not develop POAG. QoL was lowest in participants who developed bilateral VF loss even after statistical adjustment for mean deviation and other vision-specific factors.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.