The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire in the Macular Telangiectasia (MacTel) Project.

Sahel JA, Girmens JF, Mohand-Said S, Guymer R, Maxwell R, Aung KZ, Breayley L, Davies R, Newton A, Smallwood R, Soubrane G, Atmani K, Kunsch A, Lasnier M, Parier V, Poussard H, Gaudric A, Krivosic V, Cohen S, Erginay A, Massin P, Schwartz S, Khwarg J, Gonzales C, Gupta A, Ostrick R, Rosman M, Constable I, Zlatnik M, Barry C, Cerruti J, Cuypers M, Isaacs T, McAllister I, Pather E, Shilton F, Smithies L, Cooney MJ, Cimino M, Agresta E, Freund KB, Saroj N, Gonzalez N, Yannuzi L, Egan C, Falk S, Black R, Browning AC, Devani-Gokaldas M, Dunbar H, Poynter R, Richardson M, Rughani S, Singerman L, Schura S, DuBois J, Greanoff G, Miller D, Pendergast S, Gillies M, Zhu M, Ali H, Cunningham N, Gaston C, Hunt G, Williams M, Friedlander M, Trombley J, Cervantes M, Pauleikhoff D, Padge B, Heimes B, Henschel A, Kazior K, Spital G, Trieschmann M, Moisseiev J, Dai V, Atias N, Friedman Z, Hadas I, Kelener I, Moroz I, Rosen R, Ou A, Boyd K, Gentile R, Masini R, Romero J, Tai K, Whitten P, Murphy R, Byank L, Oliver D, Ayyad A, Dunn C, Flory M, Frantz R, Holz F, Issa PC, Airo B, Bartsch K, Finger R, Hinzmann S, Kocyigit C, Lee-Scholer R, Scholl H, Tietz G, Vine A, Titus P, Hackel R, Prusak R, Zbeda T, Blodi B, Olson M, Gottlieb J, Knutson G, Krolnik D, Peterson J, Do D, Greer L, Belt J, Cain D, Emmert D, Graul J, Haller J, MacDonald J, Simmons J, Brucker AJ, Drossner SG, Berger J, Devine C, Dunaief JL, DuPont J, MaGuier AM, Nyberg B, Weeney L, Narayanan R, Viswanathan S, Choudhary V, Das T, Gupta GM, Clemons TE, Figueroa M, Scheer T, Chandler T, Harrington M, Frasketi M, Tucker G, Greene L, Peto T, Seeberan R, Allikmets R, Gopakumar S, Gillies M, Bird AC, Chew EY, Friedlander M, Graham RM, Johns S, Lowy F, Lowy S, Martin F, Friedlander M, Allikmets R, Fruttiger M, Greenwood J, Moss S, Gillies M, Smith LE, Straatsma B, Bok D, Diener-West M, Fine SL, Sherman L.

The EMMES Corporation, Rockville, Maryland 20850-1707, USA. tclemons@emmes.com

PURPOSE: To describe vision-targeted health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), measured with the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) in a cohort of patients with macular telangiectasia (MacTel) type 2 and to evaluate the relationship between visual acuity and NEI-VFQ-25 scores. METHODS: This was an analysis of cross-sectional baseline data from a longitudinal natural history study. Patients with MacTel type 2 were enrolled in the Natural History Study of The Macular Telangiectasia Project (The MacTel Project). NEI-VFQ-25 were completed at enrollment. Linear correlation and regression analyses were used to relate baseline NEI-VFQ-25 overall and subscale scores to visual acuity. RESULTS: Participants reported lower vision-related functioning measured by the NEI-VFQ-25 in most of the domains measured by the NEI VFQ compared with that of a normal reference group (P < 0.001 for all domains except color vision). Visual acuity was found to be associated with the NEI-VFQ-25 in many of the domains measuring degree of difficulty with common visual activities. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first cross-sectional cohort study to assess vision targeted HR-QOL in patients with MacTel type 2. Patients with MacTel type 2 reported markedly reduced visual functioning compared to reports of a normal reference group. These findings provide support to the use of the NEI-VFQ-25 in patients with MacTel type 2 to measure the effect of disease and potential therapies on vision-targeted HR-QOL.

PMID: 18586874 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]