Association of Visual Acuity with Eye-Related Quality of Life and Functional Vision Across Childhood Eye Conditions

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We evaluated relationships between visual acuity and eye-related quality of life (ER-QOL) and functional vision in children, across a spectrum of pediatric eye conditions, using the Pediatric Eye Questionnaire (PedEyeQ). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study METHODS: 397 children (aged 5 to 11 years) with an eye condition and 104 visually normal controls, completed the Child PedEyeQ (Functional vision, Bothered by Eyes/Vision, Social, and Frustration/Worry domains). One parent for each child completed the Proxy PedEyeQ (same domains as Child plus Eye care) and Parent PedEyeQ (Impact on Parent and Family, Worry about Child’s Eye Condition, Worry about Child’s Self-perception and Interactions, Worry about Functional Vision domains). Each domain was Rasch-scored and Spearman rank correlations calculated to evaluate relationships between better-seeing-eye and worse-seeing-eye visual acuity and PedEyeQ domain score. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship between poorer better-seeing-eye visual acuity and lower (worse) PedEyeQ score on 2 of 4 Child domains (e.g., Functional Vision: r=−0.1474 ; P=.005), on 2 of 5 Proxy PedEyeQ domains (e.g., Functional Vision: r=−0.2183; P