TY - JOUR
T1 - The disease burden of keratoconus in patients' lives
T2 - Comparisons to a Japanese normative sample
AU - Tatematsu-Ogawa, Yukako
AU - Yamada, Masakazu
AU - Kawashima, Motoko
AU - Yamazaki, Yoshihiko
AU - Bryce, Thomas
AU - Tsubota, Kazuo
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2008/1
Y1 - 2008/1
N2 - PURPOSE. Keratoconus is a chronic, noninflammatory, degenerative disease of the cornea that has an onset in young adulthood. The objective of this study was to evaluate vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients with keratoconus by using the Japanese version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25). METHODS. Forty-five patients diagnosed with keratoconus at the Keio University School of Medicine were enrolled. Patients were divided into three subgroups according to corrected visual acuity. Group A included patients whose best-corrected visual acuity was at least 20/20 in both eyes. Group B included patients with a best-corrected visual acuity of at least 20/20 in only one eye. Group C included patients whose best-corrected visual acuity was worse than 20/20 in both eyes. Thirty-six age-matched subjects were recruited as control subjects. The Japanese version of the NEI-VFQ-25 was administered to each subject. RESULTS. All NEI-VFQ-25 subscale scores were significantly lower (P<0.05) in patients with keratoconus than in the control subjects. Subscales evaluating general health, ocular pain, and vision-specific mental health showed particularly low values. Among patients with keratoconus, every subscale score other than color vision correlated with corrected visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS. The results support that and describe how multidimensional visual function and VR-QOL are impaired in patients with keratoconus, including those with normal visual acuity. Ophthalmologists and other clinicians should carefully evaluate and address the full range of quality of life issues that may affect patients with keratoconus.
AB - PURPOSE. Keratoconus is a chronic, noninflammatory, degenerative disease of the cornea that has an onset in young adulthood. The objective of this study was to evaluate vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients with keratoconus by using the Japanese version of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25). METHODS. Forty-five patients diagnosed with keratoconus at the Keio University School of Medicine were enrolled. Patients were divided into three subgroups according to corrected visual acuity. Group A included patients whose best-corrected visual acuity was at least 20/20 in both eyes. Group B included patients with a best-corrected visual acuity of at least 20/20 in only one eye. Group C included patients whose best-corrected visual acuity was worse than 20/20 in both eyes. Thirty-six age-matched subjects were recruited as control subjects. The Japanese version of the NEI-VFQ-25 was administered to each subject. RESULTS. All NEI-VFQ-25 subscale scores were significantly lower (P<0.05) in patients with keratoconus than in the control subjects. Subscales evaluating general health, ocular pain, and vision-specific mental health showed particularly low values. Among patients with keratoconus, every subscale score other than color vision correlated with corrected visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS. The results support that and describe how multidimensional visual function and VR-QOL are impaired in patients with keratoconus, including those with normal visual acuity. Ophthalmologists and other clinicians should carefully evaluate and address the full range of quality of life issues that may affect patients with keratoconus.
KW - Contact lens
KW - Keratoconus
KW - Keratoplasty
KW - Quality of life
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U2 - 10.1097/ICL.0b013e3180515282
DO - 10.1097/ICL.0b013e3180515282
M3 - Article
C2 - 18180676
AN - SCOPUS:38049019479
VL - 34
SP - 13
EP - 16
JO - Contact and Intraocular Lens Medical Journal
JF - Contact and Intraocular Lens Medical Journal
SN - 1542-2321
IS - 1
ER -