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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1498413
This article is part of the Research Topic Neuro-Behavioral Insights on Low Vision and Beyond View all articles

Association between Self-Reported Eye Conditions in Patients at Rural Federally Qualified Health Centers and Vision-Targeted Health-Related Quality of Life: the AL-SIGHT Study

Provisionally accepted
Cynthia Owsley Cynthia Owsley *Thomas A Swain Thomas A Swain Gerald McGwin Gerald McGwin Lindsay A Rhodes Lindsay A Rhodes Christopher A Girkin Christopher A Girkin
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are safety-net primary health care clinics in the US serving medically underserved areas and populations. We administered the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire -9 (VFQ-9), a vision-targeted, health-related quality of life questionnaire, to patients in 3 FQHCs in rural Alabama at risk for glaucoma. We examined demographic factors and self-reported eye conditions associated with VFQ-9 scores.The VFQ-9 (score range 0-100) was administered to patients at-risk for glaucoma including African Americans or Hispanics ≥40 years, white persons ≥50 years, persons with diabetes ≥18 years, ≥18 years with glaucoma or glaucoma suspect, and/or ≥ 18 years with a family history of glaucoma. Demographic variables were collected --age, gender, race/ethnicity, employment, marital status, health insurance, education, and driving status. Patients reported the presence of eye conditions including glaucoma and many other eye conditions. Stepwise linear regression modelled which variables accounted for the greatest variance of the VFQ-9 score.Results: Composite VFQ-9 scores averaged 82.4. The best fitting model for VFQ-9 scores included being a driver, insurance type/status, self-reported glaucoma or glaucoma suspect, blurry vision, and double vision.Conclusions: Patients at-risk for glaucoma seeking care at FQHCs in rural Alabama have moderate impairment in quality of life as assessed by the VFQ-9. Factors negatively influencing scores are self-reported glaucoma or glaucoma suspect, blurry vision, double vision, not being a driver, and having no health insurance. The VFQ-9 is a good candidate as a vision-targeted quality of life outcome for eye health interventions at rural FQHCs in those with glaucoma.

    Keywords: federally qualified health center, Glaucoma, Rural Health, Quality of Life, National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-9 Indent: First line: 0", Space Before: 0 pt, After: 0 pt

    Received: 08 Oct 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Owsley, Swain, McGwin, Rhodes and Girkin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Cynthia Owsley, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.