259 research outputs found

    Refractive error changes in cortical, nuclear, and posterior subcapsular cataracts

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    AIMS: To determine the effect of the three main morphological types of cataract on refractive error. METHODS: Data were prospectively collected from 77 subjects (age 67 (SD 8) years) with one morphological type of cataract. 34 had cortical, 21 had nuclear, and 21 had posterior subcapsular cataract. 22 subjects with clear lenses (60 (7) years) were recruited as controls. The spherical equivalent and astigmatic vector change between spectacle correction and optimal refraction were calculated. RESULTS: The cortical cataract group showed a significant astigmatic change of 0.71 (0.67) D (mean (1 SD)) compared to the control group (0.24 (0.20) D), with 24% outside the 95% confidence limit (0.63 D). The nuclear cataract group showed a significant myopic shift of -0.38 (0.60) D compared to the control group (+0.02 (0.21) D), with 52% beyond the minus 95% confidence limit (-0.39 D). CONCLUSION: A quarter of subjects with cortical cataract showed larger changes in astigmatism than subjects with clear lenses. This is probably because of the localised refractive index changes along cortical spoke opacities within the pupillary area. The well known myopic shift of nuclear cataract was also demonstrated

    A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Precision (Repeatability and Reproducibility) of the Oculus Pentacam HR

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    This article is made available with the permission of the publisher, Association for Research in Vision and OphthalmologyPurpose.: To evaluate the precision (repeatability and reproducibility) of the Pentacam HR (high-resolution) tomographer (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) across a large range of measurement parameters. Methods.: A randomly selected healthy eye of 100 subjects was scanned twice with the Pentacam HR by one observer for each of the three measurement modes: 25-picture (1 second) scan, 50-picture (2 second) scan, and cornea fine scan (50 pictures in 1 second). The repeatability of each scan mode was assessed. One additional 25-picture scan was acquired by a second observer to test reproducibility. Results.: Overall, the Pentacam HR had good precision, with the cornea fine scan returning the most precise results. The 25- and 50-picture scans showed similar precision. The repeatability limits, expressed as the within-subject SD Ɨ 1.96āˆš2 of the anterior keratometry (K)1 and K2 readings with the standard 25-picture scan, were 0.25 and 0.36 D, respectively. Pachymetry maps, corneal maps, anterior chamber depth maps, corneal volume, topometric Q values and indices were also found to be precise. Poor precision was found for estimates of axis (astigmatic and progression index), pupil center pachymetry, single points on corneal maps, refractive power maps, and equivalent K readings. Conclusions.: Measurements taken with the Pentacam HR are repeatable and reproducible, especially those obtained with the cornea fine scan. Although the Pentacam HR is clearly a very useful clinical and research tool, the measurement of corneal axes, pupil center pachymetry, front meridional and axial maps, refractive power maps, and equivalent K readings should be interpreted with caution

    Subscale Assessment of the NEI-RQL-42 Questionnaire with Rasch Analysis

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    This article is made available with the permission of the publisher, Association for Research in Vision and OphthalmologyPurpose.: To explore the psychometric properties of the 13 subscales of the NEI-RQL-42 questionnaire using Rasch analysis. Methods.: The NEI-RQL-42 is a refractive error-related quality of life (QoL) questionnaire with a complex design; its 13 subscales contain 42 questions, which include 16 different question/response category formats. It was completed by 100 laser refractive surgery subjects (spectacle and contact lens wearers) pre- and postoperatively. Rasch analysis was used to assess the use of response categories, success in measuring a single trait per subscale (unidimensionality), ability to discriminate persons (precision), and targeting of the questions to person QoL. Results.: Response categories were misused in four subscales (clarity of vision, diurnal fluctuation, symptoms, and appearance), which required repair before further analyses. Six subscales contained items that did not contribute to a single trait measurement (multidimensional). All subscales were found to be inadequate at distinguishing between persons (person separation >2.0), and targeting of the questions to QoL was poor for six subscales. Conclusions.: The NEI-RQL-42 questionnaire is deficient for all psychometric properties tested. Clinicians or researchers wishing to measure QoL related to refractive error correction should consider other questionnaires that have been rigorously developed and meet standard psychometric properties

    The Impact of Structural and Functional Parameters in Glaucoma Patients on Patient-Reported Visual Functioning

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    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

    Validity of the Adaptation to Age-related Vision Loss Scale in an Australian Cataract Population

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    Purpose: The Adaptation to Age-related Vision Loss (AVL) scale was developed to measure the adjustment of older adults who are adapting to late-life vision loss. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the AVL scale satisfies the Rasch model in a cataract population. Methods: The 24-item AVL scale (18 negatively and 6 positively coded) was mailed to 436 cataract patients for self-administration whilst they were on the waiting list for cataract surgery at the Flinders Eye Centre, Adelaide, South Australia. Rasch analysis was performed to determine whether the items were measuring a single construct (unidimensionality) as examined with fit statistics and principal components analysis (PCA) of the residuals. The ability of the scale to distinguish between the levels of adaptation of the participants (person separation) was investigated, with a value ā‰„ 2.0 established as the minimum acceptable. Results: The AVL scale was unable to differentiate sufficiently between participantsā€™ levels of adaptation, indicating poor person separation. One item did not fit the construct, causing misfit. Furthermore, the five positively worded items did not appear either to measure the same construct as other items, resulting in lack of unidimensionality evidenced by PCA. Following the deletion of these items, the AVL scale was one-dimensional but a single item continued to misfit, so it had to be deleted, resulting in an 18-item AVL scale. Even so, the discriminating abilities of the scale continued to be poor. Conclusions: The AVL scale is not an appropriate measure of adaptation to vision loss in a cataract population

    Teaching Communication Skills: An Australian Optometry Programā€™s New Course

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    A limited license to use Optometric Education for your personal, educational or other noncommercial use is provided to ASCO members and the general public. No part of this journal may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means for any commercial purpose without permission in writing from ASCOAfter a review of the literature, the authors describe the experience of developing and teaching a new communication skills course at Flinders University in South Australia. A follow-up survey indicated that optometry students fully embraced the course and reported that their communication skills had been enhanced in 20 specific domains. The specific skills/tasks for which the most improvement was reported included the ability to accurately reflect feelings and content back to the other person, allowing time for silence, being more self-aware when communicating, and relating effectively with a person who is emotionally distressed

    Geriatric Vision Care ā€“ a New Look at the Old

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    World-wide, Optometry is expanding its scope of practice in many jurisdictions. The campaign to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPAs) is on-going in most countries and optometrists are increasingly becoming involved in co-managing glaucoma and the ocular complications of diabetes, interfacing with systemic and ophthalmic specialists. Optometrists continue to define their role as members of the healthcare team by serving as post-operative care specialists following refractive and cataract surgeries. In addition, Optometry continues to be a leader in pediatric eye care and pediatric eye research, including working with children with learning disabilities and children with special needs (multiple-challenges). While low vision, contact lenses and orthoptics (vision training/binocular vision) remain staples of the traditional domain, they should not be ignored at the expense of new growth. Even as we struggle, some ask, ā€œis the time ripe for Optometry to begin to recognize its own subspecialties?ā€ Although all optometrists graduate as primary eye care providers, as the profession expands special interest practitioners have laid claim to areas of expertise such as sports vision specialist, rehabilitation vision specialist, neurooptometric specialty and so on. Just as medicine, and then ophthalmology before us, recognized sub-disciplines, should Optometry mature along a similar path

    Refractive Status and Vision Profile: evaluation of psychometric properties and comparison of Rasch and summated Likert-scaling. [Post-print]

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    The psychometric properties of the Refractive Status and Vision Profile (RSVP) questionnaire were evaluated using Rasch analysis. Ninety-one myopic patients from a refractive surgery clinic and general optometric practice completed the RSVP. Rasch analysis of the RSVP ordinal data was performed to examine for unidimensionality and item reduction. The traditional Likert-scoring system was compared with a Rasch-scored RSVP and a reduced item Rasch-scored RSVP. Rasch analysis of the original RSVP showed poor targeting of item difficulty to patient quality of life, items with a ceiling effect and underutilized response categories. Combining the underutilized response scales and removal of redundant and misfitting items improved the internal consistency and targeting of the RSVP, and the reduced 20-item Rasch scored RSVP showed greater relative precision over standard Likert scoring in discriminating between the two subject groups. A Rasch scaled quality of life questionnaire is recommended for use in refractive outcomes research

    Validity of a visual impairment questionnaire in measuring cataract surgery outcomes [post print]

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    PURPOSE: To test the validity of the Impact of Visual Impairment (IVI) questionnaire in a cataract population. SETTING: Flinders Eye Centre, Flinders Medical Centre, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. METHODS: Cataract patients recruited from a hospital waiting list completed the IVI questionnaire. The scale was assessed for fit to the Rasch model. Unidimensionality, item and person fit to the model, response category performance, differential item functioning (whether different subgroups responded differently), and targeting of item difficulty to patient ability were assessed. RESULTS: Overall, the IVI questionnaire performed well; there were ordered thresholds, person separation reliability was 0.97, and it was free from differential item functioning. One item (worry about eyesight getting worse) misfit the model and was removed. There was evidence of multidimensionality, indicating that the overall IVI score should be discarded; however, the 3 subscales (reading and accessing information, mobility and independence, and emotional well-being) functioned well. Several items calibrated differently in cataract patients compared with low-vision patients, indicating different issues are important to each population and that there is a need for population-specific conversion algorithms. Targeting of the IVI items was biased toward more impaired patients. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 subscales of the IVI questionnaire functioned well in a cataract population. However, additional items targeting the less impaired patients, especially second-eye cataract patients, would improve measurement
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