Photophobia in neurologic disorders

Table 2 Photosensitivity Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)

Photosensitivity Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)
1. I prefer summer to winter because winter dreariness makes me sad. (Phi)
2. If I could, I would be happier to go out after dusk rather than during the day. (Pho)
3. Often in winter, I’d like to go to the other hemisphere where it is summer time. (Phi)
4. My ideal house has large windows. (Phi)
5. I like cloudy days. (Phi)
6. Sunlight is so annoying to me, that I have to wear sunglasses when I go out. (Pho)
7. I prefer to stay at home on sunny days, even if it is not warm. (Pho)
8. I feel reborn in spring when the days start to become longer. (Phi)
9. Usually strong sunlight annoys me. (Pho)
10. I prefer rooms that are in semi-darkness. (Pho)
11. I prefer sunlight to semi-darkness. (Phi)
12. Looking at a very bright view annoys me. (Pho)
13. I can’t stand light reflecting off snow. (Pho)
14. I think summer annoys me because it’s too bright. (Pho)
15. Sunlight is like therapy for me. (Phi)
16. I prefer walking in the sunlight if the weather is cool. (Phi)

Phi: photophilia; Pho: photophobia
These questions try to identify specifically both behaviors that actively avoid light, termed photophobia (items 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14) and that actively search light, described as photophilia (items 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 15, 16), which have been identified as relevant to the Mediterranean population in clinical practice. For each item, the patient may respond in a dichotomous way (yes or no). Affirmative answers are rated as 1 and negative ones as 0, except for item 5 where the scores are reversed (yes = 0, no = 1). Two scores are obtained by the simple sum of each item divided by the number of items for each dimension (8 for photophobia and 8 for photophilia); therefore, two scores ranging from 0 to 1 identify photophobic and photophilic behaviors, respectively

ISSN: 2047-9158