Vision-related quality of life and symptom perception change over time in newly-diagnosed primary open angle glaucoma patients

Abstract

To evaluate the change over time of vision-related quality of life (QoL) and glaucoma symptoms in a population of newly-diagnosed primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. Multicenter, prospective study. Consecutive newly-diagnosed POAG patients were enrolled and followed-up for one year. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 6 and 12 months from baseline. At each visit, vision-related QoL and glaucoma-related symptoms were assessed by the means of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS), respectively. Trends over time for NEI-VFQ-25 and GSS scores were evaluated with longitudinal linear mixed models. One-hundred seventy-eight patients were included in the analysis. At baseline, early to moderate glaucoma stages were associated with higher scores for most GSS and NEI-VFQ-25 items, while lower best-corrected visual acuity was associated with lower scores for 4 of the 12 NEI-VFQ-25 items. During the follow-up, all the GSS scores, the NEI-VFQ-25 total score, and 7 of the 12 NEI-VFQ-25 scores significantly improved (p < 0.05). In multivariate model, higher increases of most GSS and NEI-VFQ-25 scores were modeled in patients with low scores at baseline. Vision-related QoL and glaucoma-related symptom perception significantly improved during the one-year follow-up in this population of newly diagnosed POAG patients.

Multi-Omics Approach for Studying Tears in Treatment-Naïve Glaucoma Patients

“…Such a strategy is a promising tool for biomarker discovery, applicable to asymptomatic diseases such as POAG. Considering the global incidence of POAG and the great impact of an early stage disease diagnosis on the patient quality of life, screening strategies for early diagnosis and treatment of POAG are highly required [16]. To date, only few studies described the metabolomic profiles in POAG using mass spectrometry [15,17,18].…”

The negative effects of dry eye disease on quality of life and visual function

“…This questionnaire focuses on visual function impairments secondary not only to dry eye but other diseases including cataracts, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, strokerelated vision loss, or low vision [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. The 25-item approach includes several visual domains (general, distance, near, peripheral, driving, color), ocular pain scales, and five non-visual domains (general health, mental health, dependency, social function, role limitations) [9].…”

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Neurodegenerative Disorders

“…Neurodegeneration occurs also in various ophthalmological conditions. Among these, glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy characterized by loss of retinal ganglion cells, damage to the visual field, and vision decline [ 41 , 42 ]. Additional mechanisms other than increased intraocular pressure (IOP) are involved in the neurodegeneration, which progresses despite a well-controlled IOP in a significant proportion of patients [ 43 ].…”