Relevance of quality of life and treatment compliance measurement in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma

Chronic glaucoma is a severe disease that can induce blindness. Early diagn osis and symptomatic treatment reduce the risk of blindness. Treatment that will be starred before the onset of clinical signs and will remain lifelon g thereafter is troublesome, and therapeutic compliance is usually poor. Th us, quality of life (QOL) measurement in patients with chronic glaucoma has a particular purpose: to measure patients' perception of the disease and t reatment in order to maintain good treatment compliance to ensure therapeut ic management efficacy and to preserve visual function. No glaucoma-specifi c instrument is available in the medical and QOF literature. Various generi c (SF-36, SF-20 and SIP)(1) and specific (VAQ, VF-14. NEI-VFQ)(1) QOL quest ionnaires, one glaucoma-specific symptomatic scale (GSS)(1), and one treatm ent preference scale (COMTol)(1) have been used to measure QOL in glaucoma patients. These instruments do nor sufficiently measure the psychosocial di mension of the disease and the QOF impact of treatment. An instrument able to measure all dimensions needs to be developed in order to help ophthalmol ogists in the therapeutic management of their patients and to mesure QOL in patients in the successive stages of the disease.