title: Treatment of uncorrected refractive error improves vision-specific quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the benefit of eyeglasses and magnifiers in elderly patients with uncorrected refractive errors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-center, randomized, prospective, controlled trial (September 2001 to August 2003).
  
  
  METHODS
  Los Angeles County, California.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred thirty-one community-dwelling persons aged 65 and older who had habitual distance visual acuity of 20/32 or worse and whose distant visual acuity, near visual acuity, or both could be improved with eyeglasses, a magnifier, or both by two lines of acuity or more.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-six were randomized to receive a prescription and voucher for free eyeglasses, a magnifier, or both immediately, and 65 were randomized to receive a prescription and voucher after the 3-month follow-up visit (the control group).
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary outcome was vision-specific functioning as measured using the 25-item National Eye Institute-Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). Secondary outcomes were distance and near visual acuity and overall functioning as measured using the Rosow-Breslau function questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the intention-to-treat analysis of 3-month follow-up data, participants who received the eyeglasses prescription and voucher immediately had greater improvement in NEI-VFQ composite scores than the control group (P<.01). They also had greater improvement in perceptions of their general vision (P<.01), distance visual acuity (P=.03), near visual acuity (P=.04), and mental health (P=.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Correction of uncorrected refractive error, one of the leading causes of visual impairment in older people, improved the vision-specific quality of life of community-dwelling older persons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, 100 Stein Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. coleman@jsei.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Emmett
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Keeler
authors.forename: Carol M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mangione
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005139:Eyeglasses; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055656:Prescriptions; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*