THE GLAUCOMA SYMPTOM SCALE - A BRIEF INDEX OF GLAUCOMA-SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS

Objective: To develop a brief symptom survey specific for persons with glaucoma, the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS). Design: Cross-sectional s tudy of symptoms, functional impairment, and vision-targeted health-re lated quality of life among persons with glaucoma. Patients: A sample of 147 persons with glaucoma among a broad range of treatment categori es from 4 tertiary care glaucoma centers and 44 persons without eye di sease enrolled from the same 4 centers. Main Outcome Measures: Partici pants completed a modified version of the Ocular Hypertension Treatmen t Study 10-item symptom checklist. Participants also completed 2 visio n-specific measures, the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questi onnaire and the VF-14. Participants underwent a clinical evaluation, i ncluding ocular and medical history, dilated ophthalmic examination, a nd Humphrey 24-2 automated visual field testing. Results: The GSS has 2 underlying domains that demonstrate sufficient internal consistency reliability for between-group comparisons. The GSS discriminates well between persons with and without glaucoma. Additionally, tests of asso ciation with clinical markers of glaucoma severity support the clinica l validity of the measure and tests of association with established vi sion-targeted measures provide evidence of construct validity. Conclus ion: The simplicity, brevity, and psychometric properties of the GSS s upport its use in clinical practice and research to quantify symptoms in patients with glaucoma and to assist in investigations concerning t he effect of glaucoma and treatments.