[Vision-related Quality of Life with Low Vision - Assessment and Instruments]

Patient-reported outcome measures have been met with increasing interest, particularly in clinical research. They are used to capture the patient-relevant impact of an intervention or a loss of function. In patients with loss of vision, vision-related quality of life is assessed in order to quantify the impact of visual impairment in everyday life. When using quality of life instruments, psychometric characteristics - such as reliability, validity and responsiveness - are of great importance to ensure that the collected data are robust. There are various questionnaires to assess health-related quality of life, vision-related quality of life or visual function, but not all of these are suitable for patients with very low vision. The IVI and NEI VFQ questionnaires are available in German and can be used to assess vision-related quality of life. However, additional studies to evaluate these instruments and refinement or development of novel tools are needed to better meet the growing interest in using patient-reported outcomes as clinical study endpoints.