Abstract
Purpose: To describe the impact of aged-related macular degeneration (AMD) on vision-related quality of life (QOL) on a sample of portuguese patients and explore the association with vision, Central Foveal Thickness (CFT) and demographic variables in a Portuguese population. Methods: Observational, interview study of 68 patients with clinical diagnosis of NV AMD seen between January and April 2011 at the Ophthalmology Department of Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) was measured with a Portuguese version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). Scores were analysed and correlated with age, gender, laterality of the disease, initial and final visual acuity (VA), CFT and duration of follow-up. Results: Worst eye VA had predictive value in the following scores: global, distance activities, color vision, peripheral vision, role difficulties, social functioning and mental health (p<0.05). In a multivariable model with inclusion of all the parameters studied, the analysed variables explained 60% of the variability of the Global Score, with a predictive value of 0.08 (R2 0.57, p=0.088). Conclusion: NV AMD is associated with impairment in reported vision related QOL in our group of patients. The VA of the worst eye has a predictive value in NEI VFQ-25 scores.
Highlights
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people older than 65 years[1,2]
The visual acuity (VA) of BE and WE explained more than 40% of the variance observed in the following scores of NEI-VFQ 25: social function related to vision (51%), peripheral vision (49%), performance related to vision (45%) total score (44%) and mental health (42%)
In relation to the specific effect of VA of each eye in the dimensions studied, the p-values had a statistically significant value (p
Summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people older than 65 years[1,2]. The Framingham study[3] showed an incidence of 11% in people aged between 65 and years, and 30% between and 85 years old. Only 10 to 20% of AMD cases are identified as exudatively, it accounts for 80-90% of cases of blindness in this pathology[3]. This disease shows a progressive loss of central vision with a measurable impact on the quality of life of the patient[4]. The physiological markers (eg: glycosylated Hb in Diabetes Mellitus), clinical markers (eg: VA measurement), markers reported by the clinician from their perception of the impact of the disease, and at last the markers reported by the patient
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