Assessing quality of life in patients with glaucoma using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To measure and compare quality of life in patients with and without glaucoma using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 Questionnaire, and to determine the association between glaucoma-related quality of life and clinical indices of glaucoma.


METHODS
Using a prospective, cross-sectional study, we collected demographic information via interviews and administered the questionnaire to assess glaucoma-related quality of life in 121 patients with glaucoma and 31 subjects without glaucoma. Visual function was measured objectively by clinical examination. Group differences and the association between questionnaire scores and clinical indices were evaluated using nonparametric analysis of variance and correlation coefficients, respectively. The relationship between the likelihood of reporting vision-related dysfunction and glaucoma severity was examined using logistic regression.


RESULTS
Patients with glaucoma had significantly poorer glaucoma-related quality of life than controls (P<0.001). Summary scores differed significantly among patients with mild, moderate, and severe glaucoma demonstrating a trend of poorer quality of life with increasing disease severity. Activities involving glare and dark adaptation were most problematic for all, but patients with glaucoma felt significantly more compromised in central and near vision, peripheral vision, and outdoor mobility (all P<0.001). Glaucoma-related quality of life scores correlated moderately and significantly with visual acuity, disease severity, and visual field measurements, but only severe glaucoma was a significant predictor of self-perceived deficits in glaucoma-related quality of life (P=0.038).


CONCLUSIONS
The Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 Questionnaire correlated well with objective measures of visual function and discriminated between quality of life in patients with glaucoma and subjects without glaucoma.
Goldberg
Ivan
I
Eye Associates, 187 Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. eyegoldberg@gmail.com
Clement
Colin I
CI
Chiang
Tina H
TH
Walt
John G
JG
Lee
Lauren J
LJ
Graham
Stuart
S
Healey
Paul R
PR
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003623:Dark Adaptation / Q000502:physiology; D019466:Glare; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology