Association between changes in visual acuity and vision-related quality of life in Japanese patients with low vision.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) and changes in visual acuity (VA).


METHODS
We examined the VA in 100 patients for > 1 year and evaluated the degree of its impact on VRQOL using the National Eye Institute Visual Function (VF) Questionnaire (VFQ-25; Japanese version). Before determining VFQ-25, we monitored the changes in VA in these patients for 1 year and classified them into the following two groups depending on VA changes. Patients exhibiting a decline of > 3 steps in VA, as assessed by the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution scale, were placed in the 'decline' group (47.0%) and patients exhibiting no change in VA were placed in the 'no change' group (53.0%). We compared the VFQ-25 scores between both groups in all patients with glaucoma (GLA) and macular degeneration (MD).


RESULTS
The total score of the decline was 34.9 ± 13.6 and that of the no change group was 44.6 ± 13.9: the difference in the scores between both groups was statistically significant (p = 0.006). Similar results were obtained for patients with GLA and MD (p = 0.007 and 0.003, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
VRQOL differed between patients with constant VA and those with reduced VA, even though VA values were equal at a certain time point.
Yanagisawa
Mieko
M
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. yana-tky@umin.ac.jp
Kato
Satoshi
S
Kunimatsu
Shiho
S
Kobayashi
Megumi
M
Ochiai
Makiko
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult