Quality of Life in Glaucoma and Its Relationship with Visual Function

Abstract

Perceived visual disability relating to certain tasks (particularly involving dark adaptation and disability glare, activities demanding functional peripheral vision such us tripping over and bumping into objects and outdoor mobility tasks) was significantly associated with the severity of binocular visual field loss. As a result, a new glaucoma-specific questionnaire scale with good performance characteristics is presented in this study. The difficulties encountered by patients in everyday life (as measured with the questionnaire) were also mirrored in their performance on a number of psychophysical tests, especially contrast sensitivity, glare disability, Esterman binocular visual field test, and dark adaptation.