Background/aims To develop a clinically applicable, performance-based measure of the ability to perform visually related activities.

Methods 99 patients with glaucoma and 21 subjects with a normal ocular examination completed a nine-item performance-based test (the Assessment of Ability Related to Vision (AARV)), received a standard ophthalmic clinical examination and answered the questions on the National Eye Institute's Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25). All combinations of two, three or four items of the full nine-item AARV test were analysed, and their scores were compared with the full AARV scores and with clinical measures.

Results The correlation of four items (detecting motion, reading signs, finding objects and navigating an obstacle course) reduced test time from 60±5 min to 14±4 min and yielded results highly related to the nine-item test, including maintaining the relationship with clinical measures and with the NEI-VFQ-25.

Conclusion A compressed AARV correlates highly with the full test, with a method of evaluating quality of life, and with clinical measures, yet takes on average 14 min to perform. As such, it may provide a clinically useful method of evaluating the worsening effects of illness and the benefits of treatments that affect visual loss on the ability to perform visually related activities.