Glaucoma Patient–Reported Concerns and Associated Factors

Purpose To assess the character and degree of concerns of glaucoma patients and identify demographic/clinical factors affecting the concerns. Design Prospective cross-sectional study. Methods A questionnaire that addressed patients' concerns was administered to consecutive glaucoma patients. Severity of concern was scored with a scale of 0–5 in order of increasing severity. Age, sex, intraocular pressure, visual field (VF) mean deviation (MD), number of antiglaucoma medications, history of glaucoma surgery, and employment status were recorded. Results Questionnaire results of 152 patients (mean VF MD, −8.03 ± 7.86 dB [better eye] and −16.06 ± 10.22 dB [worse eye]; mean age, 69 ± 14 years) were analyzed. Severity of concern was greatest for general eyesight (2.92/5.00) and visual symptoms (2.78/5.00), followed by activities (2.20/5.00) and socioeconomic factors (2.13/5.00), and then ocular symptoms (1.69/5.00) ( P r  = −0.258; P  = .001) and worse eye ( r  = −0.233; P  = .004). Concern about activities correlated with history of glaucoma surgery ( r  = 0.148; P  = .023) and VF MD of the better eye ( r  = −0.284; P r  = −0.295; P r  = −0.245; P  = .003) and age ( r  = −0.260; P  = .001). Conclusions Glaucoma patients reported varied degrees of concern regarding items associated with quality of life. Certain items may be more concerning than others. Severity of some concerns increased with more severe VF loss, prior glaucoma surgery, or younger age.