Abstract
Background
There has been increasing interest in the use of measures of health related quality of life (HRQoL) and health state utility values in Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD). Visual acuity has been found to be an important determinant of such measures in previous studies. More recently, another measure of visual impairment, contrast sensitivity has received considerable attention. We designed a study to examine whether the contribution of contrast sensitivity in explaining HRQoL and health utilities over and above that of visual acuity.
Methods
209 patients with unilateral or bilateral ARMD were recruited into a cross-sectional study of patients from a large teaching hospital. Patients underwent visual tests (near and distant visual acuity, contrast sensitivity) and completed a vision function questionnaire, the VF-14, HUI3, and time trade-off.
Results
Using multivariate regression analysis, the study revealed that contrast sensitivity remained a statistically significant predictor of all outcome measures even when visual acuity was included. This result was supported by the correlation coefficients between measures.
Conclusions
The measurement of contrast sensitivity appears to be better related to a person’s HRQoL and health utility. Future studies should consider incorporating contrast sensitivity in addition to visual acuity. Studies, in particular economic evaluations, may underestimate the effect of treatment unless contrast sensitivity is considered.
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Abbreviations
- ARMD:
-
age related macular degeneration
- CS:
-
contrast sensitivity
- VA:
-
visual acuity
- VF:
-
visual function
- HUI:
-
health utilities index
- HRQol:
-
health related quality of life
- TTO:
-
time trade off
- SG:
-
standard gamble
- LogMAR:
-
logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution
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Acknowledgements
Novartis provided financial support for this project and Mireia Espallargues received a grant from the DURSI, Government of Catalonia to do this work. John Brazier is funded by the MRC Health Services Research Collaboration. Our appreciation to Professor Gary Rubin for his comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
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Bansback, N., Czoski-Murray, C., Carlton, J. et al. Determinants of health related quality of life and health state utility in patients with age related macular degeneration: the association of contrast sensitivity and visual acuity. Qual Life Res 16, 533–543 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9126-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9126-8