Development of the Glaucoma Visual Functioning Questionnaire-40 and Its Psychometric Properties

The objective of this study is to develop and test the psychometric properties of a self-report questionaire, the Glaucoma Visual Functioning Questionnaire-40 (GVFQ-40), which was designed to measure the difficulty of daily activities of glaucoma patients and evaluate the effectiveness of clinical treatment or rehabilitation interventions.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Primary Glaucoma; Glaucoma Suspect
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: GVFQ-40

Detailed Description

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. It is estimated that by 2040, the number of glaucoma patients in the world's population aged 40-80 will exceed 110 million [1]. As a chronic progressive blindness disease, glaucoma can seriously damage visual function such as visual acuity, visual field and contrast sensitivity, restrict patients' daily life activities and leads to a serious decline in vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) [2-5]. Comprehensive evaluation of the visual function of glaucoma patients can not only educate the impact of glaucoma, but also reflect the effect of clinical treatment or rehabilitation interventions. However, the objective testing methods commonly used in clinic, such as visual acuity, visual field and contrast sensitivity, can only be used to evaluate part of the visual function of patients, which can not reflect the impact of disease and corresponding interventions from the point of view of patients. The use of patient defined measures of vision function in ophthalmic assessment and treatment evaluation is now well accepted and a number of questionnaires have been developed, such as NEI VFQ-25, LVQOL and SF-36, which mostly focus on investigating VRQOL or HRQOL[6-10]. There are comparatively few vision function questionnaires developed to measure the visual ability for glaucoma patients. The objective of this study is to develop and test the psychometric properties of a self-report questionaire, the Glaucoma Visual Functioning Questionnaire-40 (GVFQ-40), which was designed to measure the difficulty of daily activities of glaucoma patients and evaluate the effectiveness of clinical treatment or rehabilitation interventions.

The GVFQ-40 consists of 40 items and measures the impact of glaucoma on restriction of participation in daily activities in five domains of functioning (mobility, visual tracking, reading, identification and night vision ). Each item has six answer options, that is, no difficulty (score = 1), mild difficulty (score = 2), moderate difficulty (score = 3), extremely difficult (score = 4), completely unable to complete (score = 5), and do not performed for nonvisual reasons (no score).

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 400

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Guangdong
    • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510060
      • Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

1. Primary glaucoma: patients with primary glaucoma diagnosed by glaucoma professionals
2. Glaucoma Suspect Controls: glaucoma suspect controls had a diagnosis of glaucoma suspect or ocular hypertension, and also were required to have a presenting Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity of 20/40 or better in both eyes.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1.1 Inclusion criteria of primary glaucoma group:

1. age ≥ 18 years old;
2. being able to express clearly and cooperate with the investigators;
3. diagnosed with primary glaucoma;
4. complete clinical data.

1.2 Inclusion criteria of glaucoma suspect controls:

1. age ≥ 18 years old;
2. being able to express clearly and cooperate with the investigators;
3. diagnosed with glaucoma suspect or ocular hypertension;
4. having a presenting Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity of 20/40 or better in both eyes;
5. complete clinical data.

Exclusion Criteria:

1.1 Exclusion criteria for primary glaucoma group:

1. serious cognitive dysfunction, psychological dysfunction, or hearing impairment;
2. physical motor dysfunction, hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, malignant tumors and other serious systemic diseases;
3. complicated with other ophthalmopathy affecting visual function (except cataract, ametropia), such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve disease, retinal vascular disease, etc;
4. surgical intervention (incisional or laser) within 2 weeks of the date of completing questionnaires (before or after);
5. not complete the questionnaire.

1.2 Exclusion criteria for glaucoma suspect controls:

1. serious cognitive dysfunction, psychological dysfunction, or hearing impairment;
2. physical motor dysfunction, hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, malignant tumors and other serious systemic diseases;
3. complicated with other ophthalmopathy affecting visual function (except cataract, ametropia), such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve disease, retinal vascular disease, etc;
4. not complete the questionnaire.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Primary Glaucoma; Patients with primary glaucoma diagnosed by glaucoma professionals	Other: GVFQ-40; GVFQ-40 is a 40-item questionnaire developed to evaluate the visual ability of glaucoma patients in detail. It consists of 40 items and measures the impact of glaucoma on restriction of participation in daily activities in five domains of functioning. Each item is rated on a five-level scale from ''no difficulty'' to ''can't do because of vision''. Another possible response is that the activity is not performed for nonvisual reasons.
Glaucoma Suspect Controls; Glaucoma suspect controls had a diagnosis of glaucoma suspect or ocular hypertension, and also were required to have a presenting Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity of 20/40 or better in both eyes.	Other: GVFQ-40; GVFQ-40 is a 40-item questionnaire developed to evaluate the visual ability of glaucoma patients in detail. It consists of 40 items and measures the impact of glaucoma on restriction of participation in daily activities in five domains of functioning. Each item is rated on a five-level scale from ''no difficulty'' to ''can't do because of vision''. Another possible response is that the activity is not performed for nonvisual reasons.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
GVFQ-40	GVFQ-40 is a 40-item questionnaire developed to evaluate the visual ability of glaucoma patients in detail. It consists of 40 items and measures the impact of glaucoma on restriction of participation in daily activities in five domains of functioning. Each item is rated on a five-level scale from ''no difficulty'' to ''can't do because of vision''. Another possible response is that the activity is not performed for nonvisual reasons. The GVFQ-40 is administered by a trained interviewer to all enrolled participants. A subset of participants (35 subjects) will complete the GVFQ-40 twice 2 to 3 weeks apart.	1 day (Only once)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Diagnosis and treatment information of ophthalmopathy	The diagnosis and treatment information of ophthalmopathy, such as disease diagnosis name, time, history of drug treatment and history of operation, were obtained from the hospital electronic medical record system or outpatient medical record data.	1 day (Only once)
NEI VFQ-25	The National Eye Institute-Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25) is a valid and reliable VRQOL questionnaire designed for persons who have chronic eye diseases or low vision.	1 day (Only once)
ETDRS visual acuity	The information of ETDRS visual acuity was obtained from the hospital electronic medical record system or outpatient medical record data.	1 day (Only once)
Intraocular pressure	The information of intraocular pressure was obtained from the hospital electronic medical record system or outpatient medical record data.	1 day (Only once)
Automatic perimetry report	Automatic perimetry reports were obtained from the hospital electronic medical record system or outpatient medical record data.	1 day (Only once)
Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity	Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity test card was used.	1 day (Only once)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Jones L, Garway-Heath DF, Azuara-Blanco A, Crabb DP; United Kingdom Glaucoma Treatment Study Investigators. Are Patient Self-Reported Outcome Measures Sensitive Enough to Be Used as End Points in Clinical Trials?: Evidence from the United Kingdom Glaucoma Treatment Study. Ophthalmology. 2019 May;126(5):682-689. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2018.09.034. Epub 2018 Sep 28.
• Sivaprasad S, Tschosik E, Kapre A, Varma R, Bressler NM, Kimel M, Dolan C, Silverman D. Reliability and Construct Validity of the NEI VFQ-25 in a Subset of Patients With Geographic Atrophy From the Phase 2 Mahalo Study. Am J Ophthalmol. 2018 Jun;190:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2018.03.006. Epub 2018 Mar 10.
• Huang H, Lin J, Luo M, Li Z, Zhu Y, Han J, Jin L, Li Y, Zhuo Y. Development and validation of the 40-item Glaucoma Visual Functioning Questionnaire. Br J Ophthalmol. 2022 Apr 4:bjophthalmol-2021-320985. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2021-320985. Online ahead of print.

Helpful Links

• VFQ-25
• Randomized Controlled Trial

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 8, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): April 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Anticipated): May 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 21, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 25, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 25, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2021
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Eye Diseases; Ocular Hypertension; Glaucoma
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2020KYPJ186

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No