Functional complaints, visual acuity, spatial contrast sensitivity, and glare disability in preoperative and postoperative cataract patients

Purpose: To quantify cataract patients' functional visual complaints and co rrelate them with their objective glare disability and spatial contrast sen sitivity (SCS) scores. Setting: Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, C anada. Methods: Thirty patients scheduled for cataract surgery with a visual acuit y of 20/70 or better at the time of patient selection and no other ocular p athology were evaluated objectively and subjectively for visual function pr eoperatively and within 3 months postoperatively. Objective measures of SCS and visual acuity in the presence and absence of glare were Obtained with the Optec 3000 vision tester. Subjective visual function was evaluated with the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS), a questionnaire that evaluate s patients' visual function by assessing the degree of difficulty they expe rience in performing tasks involving distance vision, near vision, and glar e conditions. Results: Preoperatively, patients had decreased visual acuity and SCS in th e presence of glare. The ADVS scores were correlated with visual performanc e. Postoperatively there was a statistically significant improvement in all dependent measures (i.e,, visual acuity and SCS in the presence of glare) as well as in the subjective report of visual performance assessed by the A DVS. Conclusion: Spatial contrast sensitivity, glare disability and the ADVS que stionnaire should be considered as adjuncts to visual acuity testing in eva luating certain cataract patients.