Association Between Undetected 10-2 Visual Field Damage and Vision-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Glaucoma

IMPORTANCE Recent evidence supports the presence of macular damage (within 8 degrees of the central field) to retinal ganglion cells and associated central visual field (VF) defects in glaucoma, even in early stages. Despite this, to our knowledge, the association of 10-2 VF damage with vision-related quality of life (QOL) has not been well studied. OBJECTIVE To determine the association between QOL and visual function as measured by 24-2 and 10-2 VFs in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and to test the hypothesis that patients with vision-related QOL disproportionate to their 24-2 VF status may exhibit 10-2 damage overlooked by the 24-2 test. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this cross-sectional analysis of observational cohort study data taken from a tertiary care specialty practice, 113 patients with glaucoma with the entire range of 24-2 VF damage completed the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). Data were collected from May 2014 to January 2015 and were analyzed from March 2016 to May 2016. INTERVENTIONS Standardized binocular 24-2 and 10-2 VF sensitivities were calculated for each patient. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Association of binocular 24-2 and 10-2 VF sensitivity with Rasch-calibrated NEI VFQ-25 scores. Detection of outliers was based on Cook distance of the regression of binocular 24-2 and NEI VFQ-25 score. Outlier association with QOL was then assessed using a linear regression model, with binocular 10-2 VF sensitivity as the independent variable. RESULTS Of the 113 patients, the mean (SD) age was 70.1 (10.9) years, and 51 (45.1%) were male and 71 (62.8%) were white. The composite NEI VFQ-25 score was associated with both binocular 24-2 (beta = 1.95; 95% CI, 0.47-3.43; P = .01) and 10-2 (beta = 2.57; 95% CI, 1.12-4.01; P = .001) sensitivities, but the 10-2 VF univariable model showed an almost 2-fold better fit to the data (R-2 = 9.2% vs 4.9%). However, the binocular 10-2 sensitivities of 24-2 outliers had the strongest association with the composite NEI VFQ-25 scores (beta = 2.78; 95% CI, 0.84-4.72; P = .006.) and the best fit to the data (R-2 = 18.2%.) CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The 10-2 VF model showed a stronger association with NEI VFQ-25 score than the 24-2 VF model. Patients with disproportionately low quality of vision relative to patients with 24-2 VF damage may have damage on the central field missed by the 24-2 grid. Future prospective testing, including additional dimensions of quality of life, is indicated.