ASSESSING QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH GLAUCOMA USING THE GLAUCOMA QUALITY OF LIFE-15 QUESTIONNAIRE

Document Type : Preliminary preprint short reports of original research

Authors

1 Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University

2 Ophthalmology department Alexandria University

3 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University

Abstract

Glaucoma is a chronic optic neuropathy, resulting in irreversible loss of the visual field and it is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Glaucoma is often asymptomatic and therefore recognized as the silent cause of blindness. It has a huge impact on a patient's life. Clinical measurements fail to fully describe activity limitations of glaucoma patients. Hence, a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the disease and its treatment on patients from their perspective has become important for the measurement of glaucoma impact and treatment outcomes.
A number of glaucoma-specific questionnaires or instruments have been developed in the past two decades. The Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) questionnaire is concise and easy to administer
It is a 15 item, 4-domain tool that is short and easy to use.The instrument is based on the premise that perceived visual disability (dark adaptation, glare, outdoor mobility tasks and activities using peripheral vision) is significantly associated with binocular visual field loss.

Keywords