Factors associated with vision-related quality of life in Brazilian patients with glaucoma

To evaluate the impact of visual acuity, visual field damage, and other factors on the quality of life in Brazilian patients with glaucoma.

This cross-sectional prospective study involved 49 patients with glaucoma enrolled based on the presence of reproducible standard automated perimetry defects in at least one eye at the time of evaluation. A detailed ophthalmologic examination was performed on each patient. All patients had reproducible standard automated perimetry and completed an NEI VFQ-25 questionnaire. The associations of the quality of life scores to the best-corrected visual acuity and the visual field loss of the better and worse eyes were investigated.

The mean quality of life score of the patients was 58.8 ± 18.7 units. The highest and lowest mean values (85.0 ± 24.2 and 37.5 ± 36.5 units) were observed in the "Social Functioning Subscale" and "Driving Subscale," respectively. Patients with advanced glaucoma (mean deviation <-12 dB) in the worse eye had significantly lower quality of life scores (p=0.007). There was a significant correlation between the quality of life scores and the visual acuity of the better and worse eyes (r2=13%, p=0.010 and r2=32%, p<0.001, respectively). There was also a significant correlation between the quality of life scores and standard automated perimetry mean deviation of the better and worse eyes (r2=13%, p=0.023 and r2=47%, p<0.001, respectively). In a multivariate model containing so-cioeconomic and comorbidity indices, quality of life remained significantly related to the standard automated perimetry mean deviation of the better and worse eyes (r2=23%, p=0.29 and r2=49%, p<0.001, respectively) as well as to the visual acuity of the better and worse eyes (r2=18%, p=0.017 and r2=40%, p<0.001, respectively).

The standard automated perimetry mean deviation and the visual acuity of the better and worse eyes were associated with lower quality of life in Brazilian patients with glaucoma. Quality of life was mostly highly associated with the standard automated perimetry mean deviation of the worse eye.