TY - JOUR
T1 - The association between legal Japanese visual impairment grades and vision-related quality of life
AU - Kawashima, Motoko
AU - Hiratsuka, Yoshimune
AU - Nakano, Tadashi
AU - Tamura, Hiroshi
AU - Ono, Koichi
AU - Murakami, Akira
AU - Inoue, Sachiko
AU - Tsubota, Kazuo
AU - Yamada, Masakazu
N1 - Funding Information:
The Japanese Physically Disabled Persons Welfare Act establishes six grades for vision-disabled certification based on visual function (Supplement 1). Japanese grading of vision disability is defined by the sum of the corrected visual acuity (CVA) of both eyes, whereas the World Health Organization and the US define visual impairment and blindness by the visual acuity of the eye with better vision []. Patients certified as visually disabled can receive publicly funded social services, financial support, and tax deductions according to their certification grade. Accordingly, the certification grades of visual impairment are expected to be associated with QOL and degree of disability. However, there is an ongoing controversy about whether the current visual impairment grades accurately reflect patient QOL []. Only a few studies have verified the correlation between QOL score and the legal grades of visual impairment [].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Japanese Ophthalmological Society.
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - Purpose: This study examines the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and the legal Japanese grade of visual impairment as defined by the Physically Disabled Persons Welfare Act. Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional study were 98 Japanese patients legally classified as visually impaired, from six ophthalmology departments. Vision-related QOL was evaluated using the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25). The short Japanese version of this questionnaire (VFQ-J11) score was calculated from the VFQ-25 results for each participant. Health utility was measured using the EuroQoL Index (EQ-5D). Data were collected for age, gender, vision-disability level, the corrected visual acuity of each eye, and disease type. Results: The mean age was 66.8 years (SD = 17.8). Visual impairment grade was significantly associated with VFQ-J11 score and the composite score developed from the VFQ-25 (p < 0.001), but not with the health utility score obtained from the EQ-5D. Conclusions: In general, the Japanese legally designated grading system for visual impairment reflects the degree of vision-related QOL, but does not reflect general health utility as determined by the EQ-5D.
AB - Purpose: This study examines the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and the legal Japanese grade of visual impairment as defined by the Physically Disabled Persons Welfare Act. Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional study were 98 Japanese patients legally classified as visually impaired, from six ophthalmology departments. Vision-related QOL was evaluated using the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25). The short Japanese version of this questionnaire (VFQ-J11) score was calculated from the VFQ-25 results for each participant. Health utility was measured using the EuroQoL Index (EQ-5D). Data were collected for age, gender, vision-disability level, the corrected visual acuity of each eye, and disease type. Results: The mean age was 66.8 years (SD = 17.8). Visual impairment grade was significantly associated with VFQ-J11 score and the composite score developed from the VFQ-25 (p < 0.001), but not with the health utility score obtained from the EQ-5D. Conclusions: In general, the Japanese legally designated grading system for visual impairment reflects the degree of vision-related QOL, but does not reflect general health utility as determined by the EQ-5D.
KW - Grade
KW - Quality of life
KW - Visual impairment
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U2 - 10.1007/s10384-016-0437-1
DO - 10.1007/s10384-016-0437-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 26972696
AN - SCOPUS:84961169747
SN - 0021-5155
VL - 60
SP - 219
EP - 225
JO - Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology
JF - Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology
IS - 3
ER -