Comparing retinal sensitivities on blue-on-yellow and green-on-yellow perimetry in glaucoma suspects.

Purpose: To compare the retinal sensitivities between the blue-on-yellow perimetry (BYP)/short-wavelength automated perimetry (SWAP) and green-on-yellow perimetry (GYP) among patients with and without nuclear sclerosis among glaucoma suspects. Methods: After ophthalmic examination, patients were subjected to two perimetric tests: BYP and GYP. The visual field (VF) parameters were compared between the two perimeters (p < 0.05 was considered significant). Results: Fifty-five eyes of 39 patients with a mean age of 60.53 ± 9.70 years were included in the study. Twenty-one eyes had clear lens or pseudophakia. Twenty-six eyes had lower grades of nuclear sclerosis (NO2NC2, NO3NC3) and eight eyes had higher grades of cataract (NO4NC4, NO5NC5). The mean retinal sensitivity (RS) in BYP was 22.08 ± 5.02 (dB) and in GYP was 23.84 ± 5.50 (dB) (p = 0.08). The mean defect in BYP was -2.56 ± 4.40 (dB) and in GYP was -3.24 ± 5.05 (dB), pattern standard deviation (PSD) in BYP was 3.65 ± 1.91 (dB) and in GYP was 3.83 ± 1.99 (dB), and foveal threshold (FT) was 24.20 ± 4.32 (dB) in BYP and 28.10 ± 4.50 (dB) in GYP. The two perimeters showed good agreement by the Bland-Altman plot for all parameters. Fourteen eyes showed perimetric changes suggestive of glaucoma by BYP. In these, GYP had a sensitivity of 92.86% (95% CI of 66.13% to 99.82%) and specificity of 95.12% (95% CI of 83.47% to 99.40%). Conclusion: BYP and GYP show good agreement. They are comparable in clear media as well as in different grades of nuclear sclerosis. GYP showed good sensitivity and specificity compared to BYP.

Health-related quality of life among tuberculosis patients under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme in rural and urban Puducherry.

BACKGROUND: Globally, tuberculosis (TB) continues to be the major public health problem. Limited research is carried out on the impact of the disease on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). The study aims to assess the HR-QoL among TB patients during and after Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) therapy and to compare the HR-QoL of these patients with matched neighbourhood controls. METHODOLOGY: A community-based longitudinal study was conducted in Ariyankuppam and Bahour communes of Puducherry from January 2014 to April 2015. 92 TB patients registered for DOTS therapy during January-June 2014 were interviewed in their DOTS centres during first visit using the SF-36 questionnaire to assess their HR-QoL. During the second visit, 9 TB patients were lost to follow-up; therefore, a total of 83 patients were interviewed in their houses and, simultaneously, 83 matched neighbourhood controls were interviewed. Non-parametric tests were used to compare the HR-QoL scores. p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean HR-QoL scores had improved among TB patients upon completion of DOTS (80.8±20.3), when compared to HR-QoL scores (48.3±30) during treatment with significant difference. The HR-QoL scores of TB patients after DOTS completion (80.8±20.3) had improved to levels comparable to that of non-TB controls (77.5±29.1) without significant difference. CONCLUSION: HR-QoL of patients suffering from TB was low. However, the study provides evidence that DOTS treatment offers a demonstrable improvement of HR-QoL among TB patients almost to the level of general population. The findings can be used in advocating the effectiveness of DOTS in TB control efforts.