Progressive Visual Field Loss and Subsequent Quality of Life Outcomes in Glaucoma

Purpose: To evaluate the association between baseline severity of visual field (VF) damage and the initial rates of VF progression with quality of life (QOL) outcomes over an extended follow-up in glaucoma.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Both eyes of 167 glaucoma or suspected glaucoma patients were followed for 10.0±0.3 years. The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ)-25 was performed at the end of the follow-up. Separate linear regression models included the VF parameters of the better eye, the worse eye, and the central and peripheral points of the integrated binocular VF to evaluate the association of baseline and initial rates of change of VF parameters (first half of the follow-up) with NEI-VFQ-25 Rasch-calibrated disability scores over an extended follow-up.

Results: All models demonstrated association of worse baseline severity of VF damage with worse subsequent NEI-VFQ-25 scores. Faster rates of decline in VF mean deviation of the better eye and the mean sensitivity of the central and peripheral test locations of the integrated binocular VF were significantly associated with worse subsequent NEI-VFQ-25 scores. VF parameters of the better eye performed better than those of the worse eye (R² of 0.21, and 0.15, respectively), and the VF parameters of the central test locations performed better than those of the peripheral test locations (R² of 0.25, and 0.20, respectively).

Conclusions: Baseline severity and initial rates of change of VF damage are associated with QOL outcomes over an extended follow-up. Assessment of longitudinal VF changes, especially in better eye, provides prognostic utility to identify glaucoma patients at a higher risk for developing disease-related disability.