Assessing health-related quality of life in cataract patients: The relationship between utility and health-related quality of life measurement

The relationship between health-related quality of life (HQL) measures and patient preference for their health status was studied. Study subjects cons isted of 132 patients at four hospitals who were scheduled for cataract sur gery. Generic and disease-specific health status measures were determined i n study subjects. The Medical Outcomes Study Short-form 36 (SF-36) item hea lth status instrument was used to measure generic health status and the Vis ual Function 14 (VF-14) item visual health status instrument was used as th e disease-specific health measure. Preference for general health and visual health was measured by assessing utilities assigned by patients to certain health states. Utilities assigned for general health were correlated with all categories o f the SF-36 and VF-14 scores. Utilities assigned for visual health were cor related with four categories of the SF-36 (role limitation due to emotional health, general health, physical functioning, and vitality) and VF-14 scor es. Utilities assigned for visual health were more strongly correlated with VF-14 scores than generic measures of health. Verbal ratings for visual he alth were correlated with Snellen visual acuity (SVA) (r=0.20), utilities a ssigned for visual health (r=0.58), VF-14 scores (r=0.74), all categories o f the SF-36 (r values ranging from 0.21 to 0.28), utilities assigned for ge neral health (r=0.19), and verbal ratings for general health (r=0.29). Utility measures and verbal ratings for general and visual health were show n to be appropriate HQL measures. These measures were strongly correlated w ith other established generic and disease-specific health measures and shou ld be included in the array of health status measures.