Severity and stability of glaucoma: patient perception compared with objective measurement.
OBJECTIVE
To elucidate the relationship between the subjective assessment in patients with glaucoma of (1) the severity of their visual loss, and (2) any deterioration in their visual function and their objective visual fields as measured by computed perimetry.


METHODS
First, patients completed a questionnaire relating to perceived visual disability and underwent binocular visual field testing. Second, a separate group of patients answered a question about perceived visual deterioration: their monocular visual field tests were analyzed retrospectively by pointwise linear regression to establish stability or deterioration.


METHODS
The Glaucoma Service of a specialist eye hospital, which is a tertiary referral center and serves the local community.


METHODS
One hundred twenty-three patients with glaucoma including 62 for the severity arm of the study and 61 for the progression arm.


METHODS
Questionnaire responses, Esterman binocular disability score, and objective visual field deterioration.


RESULTS
Questions strongly associated with Esterman binocular disability scores related to bumping into things, problems with stairs, and finding things that have been dropped. There was a strong association between perceived visual deterioration and measured bilateral visual field deterioration (P<.01).


CONCLUSIONS
There is a strong association between some types of perceived visual disability and the severity of binocular field loss. A patient who notices gradual visual deterioration is twice as likely to have bilateral visual field deterioration as not. The findings in this sample of patients with mild-to-moderate glaucoma challenge the belief that glaucoma is an insidious process in which the symptoms do not appear until the end stage of the disease.
Viswanathan
A C
AC
Institute of Ophthalmology, London, England.
McNaught
A I
AI
Poinoosawmy
D
D
Fontana
L
L
Crabb
D P
DP
Fitzke
F W
FW
Hitchings
R A
RA
D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D018450:Disease Progression; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015348:Vision, Binocular; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014794:Visual Fields