Purpose: To evaluate the vision-related quality of life (QoL) of glaucoma patients in terms of the correlation between visual field (VF) loss and National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-39 (NEI VFQ-39) survey.
Materials and methods: A total of 244 glaucoma patients were examined with monocular Humphrey 24-2 central full threshold and Esterman binocular VF tests. Patients were grouped according to their monocular VFs done by Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS) classification and Esterman binocular VF efficiency scores. NEI VFQ-39 was applied for the evaluation of vision-related QoL.
Results: NEI VFQ-39 subscales and total scores were evaluated and the highest mean average values were in "color vision" (92.00±16.59) and "social functioning" (90.74±15.98). The lowest mean average values were in "general health" (54.76±18.86) and "general vision" (66.03±17.59). All the subscales except "general health" and "ocular pain" showed positive correlations with the monocular and Esterman binocular VF groupings. Pearson correlation analysis between NEI VFQ-39 subscales and the AGIS VF classification-based groups indicated that the subscales had statistically significant negative correlations except the "general health" (r=-0.151, P=0.018) and "ocular pain" (r=-0.048, P=0.455). The highest correlation with AGIS VF classification was in "driving" (r=-0.477, P=0.001) and "general vision" (r=-0.446, P=0.000) subscales. There was statistically significant correlation between NEI VFQ-39 subscales and Esterman binocular VF groups except "general health" (r=-0.064, P=0.318) and "ocular pain" (r=-0.062, P=0.337). The highest negative correlation was in "distant activities" (r=-0.522, P=0.000) and the lowest negative correlation was in "color vision" (r=-0.416, P=0.000) subscales. The highest correlation between binocular distant and binocular near-visual acuities was in "distant activities" and the lowest correlation was in "role difficulties" subscales.
Conclusions: There is statistically significant correlation between the glaucoma patients' VF loss and the vision-related QoL. The evaluation of self-reported vision status in glaucoma patients may be a guide for the rehabilitation of their disabilities in vision-related daily activities.