A new method of assessing ability to perform activities of daily living: design, methods and baseline data.
OBJECTIVE
To describe study protocol and baseline characteristics of initial subjects.


METHODS
Prospective study of 194 glaucoma patients. After informed consent, patients were evaluated using a third-generation, performance-based measure, Assessment of Disability Related to Vision (ADREV), nine tasks to simulate daily living activities; including: reading in reduced illumination, recognizing facial expression, detecting motion, recognizing street signs, locating objects, ambulating, placing pegs into different sized holes, telephoning, and matching socks. All patients completed clinical tests including visual acuity (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study [ETDRS]), monocular and binocular visual fields, contrast sensitivity, stereopsis, and National Eye Institute's Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). Main outcome measures are scores on subtests, total scores of ADREV and NEI VFQ-25.


RESULTS
Mean age was 67.1 years; 51% were female, 55% were of European extraction. Seventy-two percent had open-angle glaucoma. Visual acuity (logMAR) ranged from -0.18 to 2.20, visual field mean defect ranged from -32.68 to 2.62, Binocular field score ranged from 5 to 100 and contrast sensitivity score ranged from 0 to 1.8. While ADREV score ranges from 0 (total disability) to 63 (no disability), total ADREV score ranged from 3.0 to 61.7. Total NEI VFQ-25 score ranged from 17.8 (low score indicates incapable) to 100 (high score indicates not hindered).


CONCLUSIONS
Methodology of this study should provide information about disability caused by visual loss, specifically glaucoma, how difficulties in performing activities relate to standard clinical tests, and how they correlate to quality of life from patient's point of view. Subsequent papers will delineate findings and discuss their application.
Glaucoma Research Center, Wills Eye Institute of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA 9107, USA. luelmd@yahoo.com
Luciano
L
Lorenzana
Dara
D
Lankaranian
Jyoti
J
Dugar
Jason
J
Mayer
Neal
N
Palejwala
Kaushal
K
Kulkarni
Kevin
K
Warrian
Zarana
Z
Boghara
Jesse
J
Richman
Sheryl
S
Wizov
George
G
Spaeth
Juliana
J
Almodin
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology