Table 5.
Mean change in individual items of the VFQ-25 for five groups of patients categorized by ETDRS change
| Baseline to month 18 change in each item of the VFQ-25† mean (SD) | Five groups of patients categorized by ETDRS change from baseline to month 18 | ||||
| Improved by ≥ 10 (N = 28–35) | Improved by 5 to 9 (N = 78–85) | No change (-4 to +4) (N = 286–323) | Worsened by 5 to 9 (N = 45–53) | Worsened by ≥ 10 (N = 27–39) | |
| General vision (Item 2) | 9.1 (17.0) | 3.3 (16.9) | -0.2 (15.8) | -1.5 (14.1) | -13.3 (19.1) |
| Ocular pain | |||||
| 4. Amount pain | 2.9 (24.1) | 1.8 (22.8) | 3.3 (19.5) | 2.4 (19.2) | 5.1 (20.0) |
| 19. Amount time: pain | 0.7 (14.2) | -2.1 (16.0) | 1.2 (16.1) | 2.4 (17.2) | -1.9 (18.5) |
| Near vision | |||||
| 5. Reading normal newsprint | 9.6 (24.6) | 5.5 (24.5) | 1.0 (23.9) | -1.4 (25.9) | -14.5 (34.7) |
| 6. Seeing well up close | 8.6 (25.7) | 4.3 (25.1) | 1.9 (22.7) | -7.7 (20.1) | -12.8 (26.8) |
| 7. Finding objects on crowded shelf | 2.2 (21.6) | 0.9 (19.6) | 0.3 (20.8) | -3.3 (20.8) | -19.9 (31.0) |
| Distance vision | |||||
| 8. Reading street signs | 5.7 (24.3) | 3.3 (22.2) | -0.9 (20.1) | -4.2 (23.4) | -16.0 (29.0) |
| 9. Going down stairs at night | -0.8 (14.6) | 0.0 (22.3) | 0.6 (21.3) | -5.2 (24.2) | -10.9 (24.9) |
| 14. Going out to movies/plays | 3.3 (10.9) | -0.3 (16.7) | 1.1 (15.8) | -7.8 (23.7) | -20.8 (27.1) |
| Social function | |||||
| 11. Seeing how people react | 2.3 (9.6) | -0.6 (14.5) | -0.5 (15.3) | -6.7 (23.8) | -13.5 (32.4) |
| 13. Visiting others | 3.7 (10.9) | -0.6 (8.7) | -0.5 (12.1) | -1.0 (14.0) | -9.0 (25.3) |
| Mental health | |||||
| 3. Amount true: worry | 6.4 (21.3) | 9.4 (22.2) | 4.7 (26.3) | 0.0 (25.9) | -8.3 (28.3) |
| 21. Amount true: frustrated | 12.9 (33.4) | 0.9 (25.7) | 0.3 (27.7) | -3.4 (41.7) | -17.3 (37.7) |
| 22. Amount true: no control | 7.9 (30.8) | -0.6 (27.3) | -1.8 (26.1) | -6.7 (34.0) | -21.8 (37.7) |
| 25. Amount true: embarrassment | 2.1 (15.3) | -0.6 (18.9) | -1.1 (19.1) | -2.9 (27.4) | -22.4 (39.2) |
| Role limitations | |||||
| 17. Accomplish less | 5.0 (27.7) | 3.8 (25.7) | -0.9 (22.8) | -6.6 (26.9) | -23.1 (34.1) |
| 18. Limited in endurance | 2.1 (15.3) | 3.8 (23.6) | 1.3 (20.9) | -6.1 (32.5) | -19.9 (35.9) |
| Dependency | |||||
| 20. Stay home most of time | 5.7 (15.0) | -2.6 (14.4) | -1.0 (13.8) | -5.3 (18.7) | -21.8 (31.5) |
| 23. Rely too much on others' word | 2.9 (18.0) | -3.2 (18.0) | 0.3 (20.8) | -8.2 (32.0) | -28.2 (39.0) |
| 24. Need help from others | 1.4 (21.0) | -3.2 (17.2) | -0.2 (19.9) | -9.1 (32.1) | -28.2 (40.2) |
| Driving | |||||
| 15C. Daylight familiar places | -0.8 (10.0) | 1.6 (12.2) | -1.7 (14.6) | -4.8 (17.8) | -25.0 (38.7) |
| 16. Nighttime familiar places | -0.9 (25.9) | -5.7 (25.6) | -0.8 (19.2) | -6.1 (30.7) | -7.1 (34.6) |
| 16A. Difficult conditions | -4.3 (24.2) | -2.9 (20.9) | -0.9 (20.5) | -8.7 (21.9) | -13.0 (32.1) |
| Color vision | |||||
| 12. Difficulty matching clothes | 2.3 (15.8) | -1.5 (14.7) | 0.6 (12.4) | -3.8 (17.4) | -11.5 (31.3) |
| Peripheral vision | |||||
| 10. Seeing objects off to side | 5.7 (20.2) | -2.6 (17.3) | -0.5 (18.6) | -5.0 (22.0) | -16.7 (32.1) |
†Three items of the VFQ-25 are not included in this table: 1 (general health), 15a (never driven/given up driving), and 15b (reason for giving up driving). Item 1 was not completed by most participants in this study. Items 15a and 15b follow skip-patterns and are not rated on the same scale as the other items.
ETDRS = Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study; SD = standard deviation; VFQ-25 = 25-Item Visual Function Questionnaire