Purpose: To quantify cataract patients' functional visual complaints and correlate them with their objective glare disability and spatial contrast sensitivity (SCS) scores.
Setting: Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Methods: Thirty patients scheduled for cataract surgery with a visual acuity of 20/70 or better at the time of patient selection and no other ocular pathology were evaluated objectively and subjectively for visual function preoperatively and within 3 months postoperatively. Objective measures of SCS and visual acuity in the presence and absence of glare were obtained with the Optec 3000 vision tester. Subjective visual function was evaluated with the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS), a questionnaire that evaluates patients' visual function by assessing the degree of difficulty they experience in performing tasks involving distance vision, near vision, and glare conditions.
Results: Preoperatively, patients had decreased visual acuity and SCS in the presence of glare. The ADVS scores were correlated with visual performance. Postoperatively, there was a statistically significant improvement in all dependent measures (i.e., visual acuity and SCS in the presence of glare) as well as in the subjective report of visual performance assessed by the ADVS.
Conclusion: Spatial contrast sensitivity, glare disability, and the ADVS questionnaire should be considered as adjuncts to visual acuity testing in evaluating certain cataract patients.