Received: 9 January 2019 Revised: 31 August 2019 Accepted: 22 October 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jebm.12369 ARTICLE Estimating patient-reported outcomes for glaucoma management: Cross-sectional study Lavanya Uruthiramoorthy 1,2 Cindy M.L. Hutnik 2,3 Kathy N. Speechley 1,2,4 Monali S. Malvankar-Mehta 1,2,3 Daniel J Lizotte 1,5 1 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Canada 2 Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Ivey Eye Institute, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, London, Canada 4 Department of Paediatrics, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada 5 Department of Computer Science, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Correspondence Lavanya Uruthiramoorthy, Department of Epi- demiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western Univer- sity, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada. Email: luruthir@gmail.com Funding information Strategic Research Fund Abstract Aim: To identify important explanatory variables of four patient-reported outcomes (PROs): vision-related quality of life (VRQoL), preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQoL), social support and community integration and depressive symptoms. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted at one ophthalmic practice in a hospital setting. Patients with a diagnosis of glaucoma or glaucoma suspect (n = 250) were sequentially recruited. Patients with language restrictions were excluded. Data were collected through medical chart reviews and face-to-face interviews. The PROs were measured using validated tools. Candidate models for predicting PROs from explanatory variables were constructed using linear and logistic regression, as well as classification and regression trees. Through leave-one-out cross-validation, the performance of each model was assessed in terms of mean absolute error. Results: Use of mobility aids, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), income, and living arrangements were most predictive of VRQoL, social support, and community integration. Use of mobility aids was also most predictive of the presence of depressive symptoms, and BCVA with preference- based HRQoL. Conclusion: Although promising associations were discovered, the models based on commonly collected clinical variables had limited ability to accurately predict individual patient PROs. Thus, although this study identifies clinical and demographic variables that are most predictive of PROs, routine collection of PROs in clinical practice may be necessary to obtain a complete picture of the quality of life of glaucoma patients. KEYWORDS community integration, depressive symptoms, glaucoma management, model assessment, patient-reported outcome, social support, vision-related quality of life 1 INTRODUCTION Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive disease requiring life-long surveil- lance and impacts quality of life (QoL). 1 Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can capture this impact to support policy decisions, optimal clinical practice, and a patient-centered approach for better glaucoma management. 2 In ophthalmic practice, disease management outcomes have been mainly assessed using clinical measures as opposed to PRO measures, 3 c  2020 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd despite the argument that the primary goal of glaucoma management is to preserve a patient’s QoL by preventing functional visual impair- ment while minimizing the side effects and complications of glaucoma treatment. 4 Thus, to effectively treat and manage glaucoma, a compre- hensive understanding of the QoL of the patient, beyond clinical symp- toms of the eye, is required. In recent years, the need to understand the fundamental disease processes, appreciate individual differences, and preserve high level of visual function while improving the qual- ity of care has induced tremendous interest in studying PROs among J Evid Based Med. 2020;1–9. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jebm 1