29-03-2017 | Uitgave 8/2017
Visual function quality of life measure changes upon conversion to neovascular age-related macular degeneration in second eyes
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- Quality of Life Research > Uitgave 8/2017
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Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11136-017-1547-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
The findings in this manuscript were presented in part at the American Society of Retina Specialists 33rd Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria, July 10–14, 2015.
Abstract
Purpose
To determine changes in quality of life measures when choroidal neovascularization (CNV) developed in the second eye of patients with initially unilateral neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods
We analyzed responses to the 39-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ), 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at baseline, and prior to and following second eye CNV diagnosis in 92 participants enrolled in two Submacular Surgery Trials. Paired t-tests for sample sizes over 30 and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for sample sizes <30 were performed to compare scores.
Results
CNV development resulted in statistically and clinically significant changes in responses to 20 of 39 NEI-VFQ items, indicating visual function decline during a mean interval of 25 months. Little difference was noted between baseline scores and prior to CNV diagnosis, which averaged 8.9 months duration. Subscales demonstrated a statistically significant decline in general vision, near activities, distance activities, social functioning, role difficulties, dependency, and driving. There were minimal changes in the HADS and SF-36 scales.
Conclusion
CNV development in the second eye had a dramatic effect on visual functioning based on patient responses to the NEI-VFQ questionnaire. Our investigation is believed to be the first study using data collected prospectively to demonstrate vision-related quality of life changes that resulted from development of CNV in AMD patients.