[Impairments of vision- and health-related quality of life in stroke patients with homonymous visual field defects depend on severity of visual function loss].
OBJECTIVE
Little is known about whether and to what extent health- and vision-related quality of life in stroke patients with visual field defects is influenced by the severity of visual function loss and which quality of life is achieved compared to healthy control persons.


METHODS
Results of the National Eye Institute-Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) and the Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) of 177 first stroke patients with visual field defects were compared with scores of age- and sex-matched healthy reference persons. The influence of visual field loss, perimetric data, reduced visual acuity and demographic variables on NEI-VFQ and SF-36 scores were estimated by analyses of variance.


RESULTS
First stroke patients showed worse results in 11/12 NEI-VFQ and in 6/8 SF-36 subscales when compared to healthy controls. The factor "intact central visual field" influenced 9/12 NEI-VFQ subscales (F-range 3.16 - 14.11; all p < 0.05), but only one SF-36 scale (F = 3.15; p < 0.05). Patients with larger intact visual fields, shorter reaction times in the visual field test and better visual acuity reached higher NEI-VFQ and SF-36 scores. Male patients reported worse scores for SF-36 subscale General Health Perceptions than female patients (F = 8.61; p = 0.004), but no differences in vision-related quality of life due to the factor gender could be detected.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with visual field defects showed considerable reductions in vision- and health-related quality of life compared to healthy control persons. These were mainly influenced by variables of visual functioning such as size of intact visual field, reaction times or visual acuity. The size of the intact central visual field influenced vision-related quality of life rather than health-related quality of life.
Wagenbreth
C
C
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, Institut für Medizinische Psychologie, Magdeburg. Carolin.Gall@med.ovgu.de
Franke
G H
GH
Sabel
B A
BA
Gall
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006423:Hemianopsia / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000523:psychology*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014794:Visual Fields