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Sylvia H. Paz, MS; Denise R. Globe, PhD; Joanne Wu, MPH; Stanley P. Azen, PhD; Rohit Varma, MD, MPH; for the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study

Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:1021-1027.

Objective  To validate and assess the relationship between self-reported depression as measured by a single item on the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 12 (SF-12) and self-reported visual function.

Methods  The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study is population-based and designed to assess the prevalence of visual impairment, ocular disease, and visual functioning in Latinos. Both the 25-item National Eye Institute–Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) (self-reported visual function) and the SF-12 (health-related quality of life) were administered. A single item from the SF-12 was used to measure selfreported depression and validated against the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression measure of depression. Covariate-adjusted NEI VFQ-25 subscale scores were contrasted across the 6 response choices of the SF-12, as well as across 3 combined response categories of the SF-12 using analysis of covariance. Covariate-adjusted regression analyses assessed the contribution of self-reported depression in explaining self-reported visual function.

Results  The sensitivity and specificity of the SF-12 single item with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression measure was 0.96 and 0.50, respectively. Using the 3 combined response categories of the SF-12 single item, it was found that (1) all covariate-adjusted subscales of the NEI VFQ-25 were statistically significantly different across the self-reported depression categories (P<.001) and (2) covariate-adjusted self-reported depression was a significant predictor of self-reported visual function (P<.001).

Conclusions  A single SF-12 item may be used as a measure of self-reported depression. In addition, self-reported depression is an important covariate to consider when assessing self-reported visual function in Latinos.

From the Doheny Eye Institute and the Departments of Ophthalmology (Ms Paz and Drs Azen and Varma) and Preventive Medicine (Drs Azen and Varma), Keck School of Medicine, and the Department of Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy, School of Pharmacy (Dr Globe and Ms Wu), University of Southern California, Los Angeles. The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

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