title: Development of an Arabic version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire as a tool to study eye diseases patients in Egypt.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and test an Arabic version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25).
  
  
  METHODS
  NEI-VFQ-25 was translated into Arabic according to WHO translation guidelines. We enrolled adult consenting patients with bilateral chronic eye diseases who presented to 14 hospitals across Egypt from October to December 2012, and documented their clinical findings. Psychometric properties were then tested using STATA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We recruited 379 patients, whose mean age was (54.5±15)y. Of 46.2% were males, 227 had cataract, 31 had glaucoma, 23 had retinal detachment, 37 had diabetic retinopathy, and 61 had miscellaneous visual defects. Non-response rate and the floor and ceiling numbers of the Arabic version (ARB-VFQ-25) were calculated. Internal consistency was high in all subscales (except general health), with Cronbach-α ranging from 0.702-0.911. Test-retest reliability was high (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.79).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ARB-VFQ-25 is a reliable and valid tool for assessing visual functions of Arabic speaking patients. However, some questions had high non-response rates and should be substituted by available alternatives. Our results support the importance of including self-reported visual functions as part of routine ophthalmologic examination.
authors.affiliation: Doheny Image Reading Center, Doheny Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 1355 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA.
authors.forename: Nizar Saleh
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Abdelfattah
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11956, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amgad
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia 32511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Salama
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
authors.forename: Marina E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Israel
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ghada A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Elhawary
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia 32511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Radwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia 32511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Elgayar
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21131, Egypt.
authors.forename: Tamer M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: El Nakhal
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11956, Egypt.
authors.forename: Islam T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Elkhateb
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef 62511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Heba A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Hashem
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef 62511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Doha K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Embaby
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia 32511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Amira A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Elabd
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11956, Egypt.
authors.forename: Reem K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Elwy
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11956, Egypt.
authors.forename: Magdi S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yacoub
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21131, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hamdy
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Alexandria Regional Center for Women's Health & Development, Alexandria 21131, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdel-Baqy
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21131, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kassem
keywords: Arabic; National Institutes of Health; psychometrics; questionnaires; visual function questionnaire