Abstract
Purpose
To assess the impact of corneal collagen cross-linking on self-reported vision-related
quality of life (VR-QoL) in keratoconus patients by means of the Keratoconus Outcomes
Research Questionnaire (KORQ), a new disease-specific patient reported outcomes measures
(PROMs) tool.
Methods
Patients with progressive keratoconus undergoing corneal collagen cross-linking were
consecutively enrolled. Patients completed the KORQ before and after the treatment,
at 1, 3 and 6 months. Data were collected regarding the visual acuity and the topographic,
aberrometric and pachymetric parameters of both eyes. Patients were also asked to
quantify their eye rubbing behavior on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) from 0 to 10,
before and 6 months after treatment.
The KORQ scores were associated with the visual acuity, topographic, aberrometric
and pachymetric data by means of the Spearman correlation coefficient.
Results
The Activity Limitation (AL) subscale score was higher after surgery. Preoperatively,
negative correlations were observed between the KORQ AL score and Best Corrected Visual
Acuity (logMAR), maximum keratometry, flattest keratometry, steepest keratometry,
symmetry index front and higher order aberrations (HOA) of the treatment eye. Postoperatively,
we observed a shift toward the fellow eye, with stronger correlation of the KORQ scores
with the fellow eye parameters. The Symptoms subscale score correlated with the aberrometric
parameters of both eyes at various time points. Statistically significant correlations
were observed between the change in KORQ scores and the change in aberrometric parameters.
A statistically significant reduction in the eye rubbing behavior was detected (p < 0,0001).
Conclusions
These results suggest that the corneal cross-linking treatment is effective both in
improving the subjective perception of the disease by the patient and in stabilizing
the objective indicators of disease progression. Keratometric, aberrometric and visual
acuity values showed a significant impact on self-reported VR-QoL. Corneal cross-linking,
by halting the worsening of these parameters, may bear a beneficial effect on VR-QoL.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
KC (Keratoconus), QoL (Quality of Life), VR-QoL (Vision-Related Quality of Life), PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures), KORQ (Keratoconus Outcomes Research Questionnaire), ER (Eye Rubbing), BCVA (Best Corrected Visual Acuity), HOA (Higher Order Aberrations)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 19, 2022
Accepted:
August 6,
2022
Received in revised form:
August 2,
2022
Received:
June 11,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
