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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
A Standardized Obstacle Course for Assessment of Visual Function in Ultra Low Vision and Artificial Vision
Published on: February 11, 2014
Additional psychometric information and vision-specific questionnaires are available for age-related macular
Ruth M A van Nispen1, Michiel R de Boer, Ger H M B van Rens
1Department of Ophthalmology, EMGO Institute, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.vannispen@vumc.nl
Purpose:
To present psychometric information and studies dealing with questionnaires for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and visually impaired patients in addition to the study by Finger et al. "Quality of life in AMD: a review of available vision-specific psychometric tools". We propose that their literature search should not have focused solely on the specific eye disease AMD.
Methods:
The literature search was partly replicated (PubMed) by using "visual impairment" instead of "macular degeneration" as free text words. Psychometric information was obtained from the additional studies. Preliminary results from a differential item functioning (DIF) analysis used to examine the relationship between item responses on the Vision-related quality of life Core Measure (VCM1) of AMD patients versus patients with other eye conditions are discussed.
Results:
Eight studies of visually impaired patient populations, including AMD patients, are discussed, with psychometric information from six vision-specific questionnaires. The VCM1 items did not present DIF, which means that the items were equally interpreted by all patients.
Conclusions:
The results on DIF and the additional studies presented here confirm that a specific eye disorder is of minor importance in the choice of a vision-specific questionnaire or, in this case, a literature search.
