title: An alternative way to think about glaucoma screening, using a questionnaire as a tool, Chinese version.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a short screening test for the detection of preclinical glaucoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  This case-control study involved 690 participants aged 40 years or older: 338 patients with glaucoma or suspected glaucoma and 352 patients without glaucoma, who served as a control group. All participants were interviewed by a single trained research assistant. Patients' basic demographic and clinical information, past ophthalmic history and responses on the National Eye Institute 25-item Visual Function Questionnaire were collected. Two glaucoma-trained ophthalmologists examined all the participants using standard procedures to make a diagnosis. The biostatistical differences between the two groups were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five items were selected for glaucoma screening: 'Sense of worse vision compared with those of the same age', 'Ocular pain or discomfort during the past 6 months', 'History of cataract', 'Family history of glaucoma' and 'Hyperopia'. A score of 2 or more was used to define a group of positive cases with the most appropriate values for sensitivity (79.0%), specificity (76.7%) and predictive power (a positive predictive value of 76.5% and a negative predictive value of 79.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A five-item instrument was developed to detect preclinical glaucoma. Anyone with a score of 2 or more may need further ophthalmic examination and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Lin
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Ching-Yao
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Ya-Chuan
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: Pesus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013624:Taiwan