Measurement of visual function among patients undergoing corneal transplantation using the VF-14 index in Morocco

To validate the Moroccan version of the VF-14 in candidates for keratoplasty and to assess their quality of life using this tool before and after transplantation. This is a longitudinal prospective study that assessed 57 patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty, recruited in the ophthalmology service in Marrakech over 5 years. The original VF-14 questionnaire was adapted into Moroccan dialect. The questionnaire was administered before and 2 years after transplantation. The VF-12 questionnaire was also used, deleting the last two items. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. Comparisons of VF-14 scores before and after transplantation used the Wilcoxon test for paired samples. In total, 57 patients participated in the study. The most frequent indication for surgery was keratoconus (44%). All patients underwent penetrating keratoplasty. Chronbach's alpha value was 0.989 for VF-14 and 0.990 for VF-12. The two scores were negatively correlated with logMAR visual acuity. The strongest correlation was found with VA in the fellow eye. The average best-corrected visual acuity of the eye scheduled for keratoplasty was 1.1±0.16 logMAR. The average of VF-14 was 53±3. After keratoplasty, the average best-corrected visual acuity of operated eye was 0.34±0.31. The average postoperative astigmatism was 3 D. After keratoplasty, an increase in VF-14 score was observed from 53.5 to 81.92 (P