Patients with early primary open-angle glaucoma may have reduced vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) associated with the amount of macular damage they have sustained, according to a new study. The findings add more weight to the ongoing call for earlier structure and function testing for glaucoma suspects to help mitigate negative outcomes.¹

Researchers looked at 88 eyes of 44 glaucoma patients using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography optic disc and macular cube scans, as well as both 10-2 and 24-2 visual fields. They measured VRQoL using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25).¹

Results show 57% of the worse-seeing eyes and 31% of the better-seeing eyes had macular damage. While macular damage in either eye was associated with lower NEI VFQ-25 scores compared with unaffected eyes, macular damage in the worse-seeing eye led to a lower NEI VFQ-25 score (85.4 ±9.0 vs. 94.6 ±3.3) than that in the better-seeing eye compared with controls (84.8 ±11.1 vs. 91.3 ±6.3).¹

“In comparing the overall fit of the data to VRQoL, we found that the presence or absence of macular damage in the worse eye was a better predictor of VRQoL than the presence or absence of macular damage in the better eye,” the researchers said.¹

“Because this study shows that macular damage resulting in 10-2 defects correlates much higher with QoL surveys of impaired visual function, it seems time to acknowledge that this is an important screening test for any patient considered to be a glaucoma suspect,” added Leonard J. Press, OD, in a Practice Update commentary.²