ABSTRACT
The two aims of this study were to develop a vision related quality of life assessment tool for the Arabic speaking communities and to conduct a pilot study using this tool to assess preoperative visual function of cataract patients and evaluate patient reported outcomes of phacoemulsification and extracapsular cataract extraction. An Arabic structured questionnaire was developed to assess both distant and near with a scoring system designed to be comparable to the available instruments in other languages. The instrument was given the name Arabic visual Function Test [AVFT] and was submitted to MAP1 Research Institute for registration as the first Arabic vision related quality of life assessment tool. The instrument was then utilized to assess pre- and postoperative visual function of forty patients undergoing cataract extraction by either phacoemulsification or extracapsular extraction techniques. The results were compared to patients' performance on Snellen's visual acuity chart. The preoperative visual acuity and AVFT scores showed a positive linear relationship and a good level of agreement in both groups. Both preoperative and postoperative AVFT scores of most patients correlated well with their objective visual acuity measurements using the standard Snellen's chart. Although postoperative best corrected visual acuity was higher amongst the phacoemulsification group, there was no significant difference between postoperative AVFT scores of patients undergoing phacoemulsification and extracapsular cataract extraction one month after the operation. The study concluded that patient reported visual function questionnaires are useful adjuncts to standard visual acuity testing for both preoperative assessment of visual function and postoperative evaluation of clinical outcome of cataract surgery. Further research is needed to determine the test-retest reliability of the Arabic visual function test against other visual function questionnaires available in the western world