Purpose: To determine the influence of ocular complications on quality of life (QoL) 3years after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Methods: All 54 adult patients that underwent and survived allo-SCT in 2006/2007 in our centre received two questionnaires (VFQ-25: visual function questionnaire-25 and OSDI: ocular surface disease index). In addition, the following data were included: gender, age, underlying disease, presence of chronic and/or ocular graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), number of visits to an ophthalmologist, manifestations of dry eye disease, the duration of follow-up and treatment for ocular GVHD. Results: Ocular GVHD developed in 26% (14 of 54) of patients and 71% (10 of 14) received treatment for ocular GVHD. The presence of ocular GVHD correlated with the severity of systemic GVHD (correlation coefficient: 0.52, p=0.00). The Karnofsky scores were significantly lower in the patients with ocular GVHD compared to the patients with no ocular GVHD (p=0.001). Karnofsky scores were weakly correlated with the severity of systemic GVHD (correlation coefficient: 0.25, p=0.03. Three years after the all-SCT, OSDI and VFQ-25 scores were significantly impaired in patients with ocular GVHD [mean: 76.5; range (46.1-100) and mean: 31.1; range (0-72.9)] compared to patients with no ocular GVHD [mean: 89.4; range (45.2-100) and mean: 12.9; range (0-58.3); p=0.02]. The scores of the VFQ-25 were significantly lower in the domains of general health, ocular pain, social functioning and role difficulties. Conclusion: The long-term vision-related QoL measured by the OSDI and VFQ-25 was impaired in patients with ocular GVHD.

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doi.org/10.1111/aos.12047, hdl.handle.net/1765/40159
Acta Ophthalmologica (Print)
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Riemens, A., te Boome, L., Kalinina Ayuso, V., Kuiper, J., Imhof, S., Lokhorst, H., & Rothová, A. (2014). Impact of ocular graft-versus-host disease on visual quality of life in patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: Questionnaire study. Acta Ophthalmologica (Print), 1–6. doi:10.1111/aos.12047