title: Impact of age-related macular degeneration on vision-specific quality of life: Follow-up from the 10-year and 15-year visits of the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess vision-specific quality of life (QOL), based on abbreviated surveys derived from the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ), in a cohort of United States women who participated in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective, observational cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) status, based on a 3-level classification (no AMD, early AMD, late AMD), and vision-specific QOL, based on abbreviated NEI-VFQ surveys, were calculated for 1674 women enrolled in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures at 4 centers within the United States who had gradable fundus photographs at both the 10-year and 15-year follow-up visits. The associations among 5-year changes in NEI-VFQ composite scores, change in AMD status, and distance visual acuity were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with study participants without AMD at both visits, study participants with late AMD at both visits and those who progressed from early AMD to late AMD demonstrated the greatest declines in adjusted NEI-VFQ composite scores, up to a mean decrease of 16.2 from a scale of 100. Visual acuity declines also were most prominent for patients with late AMD at both visits and for those who progressed from early AMD to late AMD. Change in visual acuity was found to correlate significantly with change in vision-specific QOL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The abbreviated NEI-VFQ surveys provide reliable assessments of vision-specific QOL in AMD patients. The decline in vision-specific QOL associated with the progression of AMD is clinically meaningful.
authors.affiliation: Jules Stein Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, USA. colemana@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Kristine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Ensrud
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: Jane A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cauley
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Pedula
authors.forename: Marc C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hochberg
authors.forename: Carol M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mangione
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005598:Fractures, Spontaneous / Q000503:physiopathology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*