Viual function index (VF-14) in exudative age-related macular degeneration of long duration

Purpoe To evaluate the Viual Function Index (VF-14) quetionnaire for it effectivene in aeing viual function in patient with longtanding exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Deign Obervational cae erie. Method The record of 167 conecutive patient with recent neovacularization related to AMD between June 1990 and December 1994 at the Helinki Univerity Eye Clinic were analyzed in 1999. Of 121 patient till living, 74 (61%) attended the reexamination. After excluion, data from 62 patient were analyzed. The VF-14 core, plu global aement core of atifaction with viion and quality of viion, in which patient graded the ubjective level of difficulty with their viion, bet-corrected viual acuity (BCVA), contrat enitivity, the area of the AMD leion, and the hortet ditance and direction from the center of the fovea to the edge of the ubfoveal leion, were analyzed. Reult The VF-14 core correlated ignificantly with BCVA (P < .01), contrat enitivity (P < .01), and global aement core (P < .01), howing tronger correlation with global aement core than did BCVA. In multivariate regreion analyi, the global aement cale of overall quality of viion and BCVA in the better eye were ignificant predictor (P < .001) of the variability in the VF-14 core. Concluion The VF-14 reflect viual function of patient with late AMD more effectively than BCVA meaurement alone. The VF-14 can thu be ued to compare the viual handicap of late AMD patient with that of patient with other eye dieae.