The VF-14 index of functional viual impairment in candidate for a corneal graft Original Reearch Article

PURPOE: To validate the Viual Function-14 (VF-14) index of functional viual impairment in candidate for a corneal graft. METHOD: One hundred thirty-four patient who were candidate for a corneal graft participated in thi tudy between Augut 1996 and February 1997. Demographic, ocular hitory, bet-corrected viual acuity, and detailed ocular examination data were collected. Functional viual impairment information wa obtained by telephone interview uing the following: VF-14, F-36 (hort Form-36, a more generic meaure of general health function), and Viual ymptom core, and four quetion meauring the overall amount of trouble with viion, diatifaction with viion, ocular pain, and dicomfort. REULT: The average age of corneal graft candidate wa 64 ± 18 year (range, 18 to 90 year) and 60% were women. The mot frequent corneal dieae wa peudophakic bullou keratopathy (41%). Ocular comorbiditie included glaucoma or ocular hypertenion (30%) and cataract (19%). The mean bet-corrected viual acuity of the eye cheduled for urgery wa 1.33 ± 0.56 logMAR wherea the bet eye bet-corrected viual acuity wa 0.36 ± 0.44 logMAR. The mean VF-14 core wa 73% ± 26%, and the internal conitency wa high, with a Cronbach alpha value of 0.94. The VF-14 correlated trongly with the bet eye bet-corrected viual acuity. It alo correlated trongly with the Viual ymptom core, the global meaure of trouble and diatifaction with viion. Candidate for a corneal graft had low core for all eight general health concept evaluated with the F-36, and the VF-14 correlated with even of the eight F-36 ubcale. CONCLUION: The VF-14 i a valid meaure of functional viual impairment in candidate for a corneal graft. The Viual ymptom core and the F-36 are alo ueful indice in uch patient.