The Association Between Clinical Parameters And Glaucoma-specific Quality Of Life In Chinese Primary Open-angle Glaucoma Patients

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between clinical measurements and glaucoma-specific quality of life in Chinese glaucoma patients. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: An academic hospital in Hong Kong. Patients: A Chinese translation of the Glaucoma Quality of Life–15 questionnaire was completed by 51 consecutive patients with bilateral primary open-angle glaucoma. The binocular means of several clinical measurements were correlated with Glaucoma Quality of Life–15 findings using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression. The measurements were the visual field index and pattern standard deviation from the Humphrey Field Analyzer, Snellen best-corrected visual acuity, presenting intra-ocular pressure, current intra-ocular pressure, average retinal nerve fibre layer thickness via optical coherence tomography, and the number of topical anti-glaucoma medications being used. Results: In these patients, there was a significant correlation and linear relationship between a poorer Glaucoma Quality of Life–15 score and a lower visual field index (r=0.3, r2=0.1, P=0.01) and visual acuity (r=0.3, r2=0.1, P=0.03). A thinner retinal nerve fibre layer also correlated with a poorer Glaucoma Quality of Life–15 score, but did not attain statistical significance (r=0.3, P=0.07). There were no statistically significant correlations for the other clinical parameters with the Glaucoma Quality of Life–15 scores (all P values being >0.7). The three most problematic activities affecting quality of life were “adjusting to bright lights”, “going from a light to a dark room or vice versa”, and “seeing at night”. Conclusion: For Chinese primary open-angle glaucoma patients, binocular visual field index and visual acuity correlated linearly with glaucoma- specific quality of life, and activities involving dark adaptation were the most problematic.