The NEI VFQ-25 vision-related quality of life and prevalence of eye disease in a working population

To apply the National Eye Institute 25-item Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) to a large group of working people and assess the prevalence of eye disease.

In this cross-sectional study, 619 employees of two large enterprises in Munich, Germany, underwent complete ophthalmological examination and assessment of the vision-related quality of life by the Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25, German translation). Statistical analysis including binary logistic regression to investigate predictive factors of eye disease was performed.

The age of the participants was mean 42 years. In 108 patients (17.4%) an ophthalmological disease was present. The mean VFQ-25 composite score was 91.1, and was not significantly different between the group with (88.8) or without (91.6) eye disease. A clear age dependency of VFQ-25 scores was seen. Most reduced subscales in eye disease were ocular pain and role difficulties. Patients with amblyopia did not show any reduction in visual quality of life (composite score 93.4). In the binary regression model, considering the clinical parameters intraocular pressure (IOP), cup/disc ratio (CDR), and spherical equivalent, as well as some of the VFQ-25 subscales, the presence of eye disease could be predicted with a high specificity of 98.7% but a low sensitivity of 12.2%.

Normal values of the VFQ-25 performance in a large number of working people in Germany are given with a clear age dependency. A combination of refraction, IOP, CDR and some VFQ subscales could reasonably well exclude any prevalent eye disease. For screening purposes, neither variable nor combination was sufficiently sensitive and specific.