Impact of initial topical medical therapy on short-term quality of life in newly diagnosed patients with primary glaucoma

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of initial topical medical therapy on newly diagnosed glaucoma patients using the Indian Vision Function Questionnaire (IND-VFQ33). Patients and Methods: The IND-VFQ33 was used to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) in 62 newly diagnosed patients with moderate to severe primary glaucoma and 60 healthy controls. IND-VFQ33 is a 33 item QoL assessment tool with three domains: General functioning, psychosocial impact and visual symptoms. The glaucoma patients were started on medical therapy and the QoL assessment was repeated after 3 months. Results: Glaucoma patients (mean age: 55.6 ± 9.6 years, range 40-77 years) and controls (mean age: 54.9 ± 6.7 years, 42-73 years) were matched with respect to age (P = 0.72), gender (P = 0.91) and literacy (P = 0.18). Glaucoma patients had significantly worse QoL as compared to controls at baseline across all the three domains (P 2 topical medications significantly co-related to poor QoL at 3 months (P = 0.01). Conclusions: Evaluation using the IND-VFQ33 revealed that newly diagnosed glaucoma patients have a significant worsening of QoL after initiation of topical ocular hypotensive therapy. This should be an important consideration when educating patients about the disease and its therapy.

Keywords

• Indian Vision Function Questionnaire
• primary glaucoma
• quality of life