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BackgroundEconomic viability of treatments for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) should be assessed objectively to prioritise health care interventions. This study aims to identify the methods for eliciting utility values (UVs) most sensitive to differences in visual field and visual functioning in patients with POAG. As a secondary objective, the dimensions of generic health-related and vision-related quality of life most affected by progressive vision loss will be identified.MethodsA total of 132 POAG patients were recruited. Three sets of utility values (EuroQoL EQ-5D, Short Form SF-6D, Time Trade Off) and a measure of perceived visual functioning from the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) were elicited during face-to-face interviews. The sensitivity of UVs to differences in the binocular visual field, visual acuity and visual functioning measures was analysed using non-parametric statistical methods.ResultsMedian utilities were similar across Integrated Visual Field score quartiles for EQ-5D (P = 0.08) whereas SF-6D and Time-Trade-Off UVs significantly decreased (p = 0.01 and p = 0.001, respectively). The VFQ-25 score varied across Integrated Visual Field and binocular visual acuity groups and was associated with all three UVs (P ≤ 0.001); most of its vision-specific sub-scales were associated with the vision markers. The most affected dimension was driving. A relationship with vision markers was found for the physical component of SF-36 and not for any dimension of EQ-5D.ConclusionsThe Time-Trade-Off was more sensitive than EQ-5D and SF-6D to changes in vision and visual functioning associated with glaucoma progression but could not measure quality of life changes in the mildest disease stages.

It is recommended that rehabilitation interventions are planned and evaluated with consideration to their impact on Exclusion, Indignity, Pain, Hunger and Household Poverty using multi-faceted partnerships.

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Purpose Glaucoma is an important disease, the impacts of which on vision have been shown to have implications for patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The primary aim of this study is to estimate a mapping algorithm to predict EQ-5D and SF-6D utility values based on the vision-specific measure, the 25-item Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ-25), as well as the clinical measures of visual function, that is, integrated visual field, visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity. Methods Ordinary least squares (OLS), Tobit, and censored least absolute deviations were compared using data taken from the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, to assess mapping functions to predict the EQ-5D and SF-6D from the VFQ-25, and tests of visual function. These models were compared using root mean square error (RMSE), R 2 , and mean absolute error (MAE). Results OLS was the best-performing model of the three compared, as this produced the lowest RMSE and MAE, and the highest R 2 . Conclusions The models provided initial algorithms to convert the VFQ-25 to the EQ-5D and SF-6D. Further analysis would be needed to validate the models or algorithms.