1. Relationship between Visual Impairment and Eye Diseases and Visual Function in Andhra Pradesh Ophthalmology 2007;114:1552–1557 Rishita Nutheti, Jill E. Keeffe, Bindiganavale R. Shamanna, Praveen K. Nirmalan, Sannapaneni Krishnaiah, Ravi Thomas 學生：董瑩蟬

2. Purpose This paper investigated the older adult visual impairment and eye diseases on visual function. Used the visual function questionnaire (VFQ) interview 7363 person that more than 16 years old.

3. Reference Massof et al. (2001) used visual function questionnaire to measure the loss of vision. Some studies investigated the impact of visual impairment on functional vision. (Broman et al.,2002; Globe et al.,2004; West et al., 1997; Rubin et al.,2000; Nirmalan et al.,2005)

4. Method Subjects –There are 7363 subjects administered the visual function questionnaire (VFQ), their age more than 16 years. –There are 3724 subjects more than 40 years, who measure the visual impairment and vision function. The data collect time from October 1996 to February 2000.

5. Method VFQ –It is measure adult vision function with the different levels of difficulty perceive. –VFQ include 16 items for self-assessment of vision. –It used Likert scale that range between 0 to 4. Visual acuity and visual field measure

6. Method Definitions –Blindness: visual acuity less than 6/60 or central visual field loss than 200. –Visual impairment: visual acuity between 6/18 to 6/60. –No visual impairment: visual acuity better than 6/18.

7. Result There were total 3724 person, 28 has visually impaired and 20 person do not participated interview. So there were 3676 subjects. The items 1 (reading small print), 5 (recognizing a bus number), 11 (recognizing traffic signals) were not considered for analysis, because that were not applicable of the visually impaired persons. The VFQ’s internal consistency was 0.921. The item-total correlation showed table 1.

8. Result

10. Subjects mean age were 54.2,range between 40 and 120 years. There were 1950 female and 2754 lived in rural areas. The visual acuity was significant poor for subjects with corneal disease, glaucoma, or retinal disease. (P<0.001)

11. Result

12. The age increased then the visual function scores declined. The socioeconomic status and education increased then the visual function scores increased. The visual impairment (cataract, refractive errors and so on ) have significant lower scores than without visual impairment when without visual acuity model.

13. Discussion The result showed that the visual impairment effect the visual function in older adults. Broman et al. (2002) and Nirmalan et al. (2005) have similar result. The cataract was a main factor with older visual impairment. Some studies found the cataract surgery that can improvement subjects visual function. (Javitt et al.,1993 and1995; Desai et al., 1996)

14. Conclusion Person with visual impairment has poor visual function scores. The visual function questionnaire has high internal consistency. (Cronbach’s α=0.92) The visual acuity was poor for subjects with corneal disease, glaucoma, or retinal disease. The older adult has lower visual function scores.