OBJECTIVES: Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is the second most common vascular disorder of the retina, affecting approximately 28,000 new patients every year in Canada, but little is known about their health utility.  A Canadian Observational Utility Study was conducted to estimate utility values for RVO patients with different levels of visual acuity (VA). METHODS: A total of 202 participants with RVO, where 37% had CRVO and 63% had BRVO, were enrolled from 20 sites across Canada. Participantss had RVO in either their best-seeing eye (17%) or worse-seeing eye (83%). Spectacle corrected VA was measured and patient health utility was collected using the Health Utilities Index questionnaire (HUI3).  VA was recorded as a fraction (Snellen Score) and the value of this fraction was expressed as logMAR.  A linear regression model was used to predict utility values from logMAR in the affected eye adjusting for key clinical covariates (age, duration of disease, logMAR in fellow eye). The baseline characteristics of participants from randomized controlled clinical trials (BRAVO, CRUISE) were used to generate predicted health utilities relevant in the context of these studies. RESULTS: For the 202 participants (ages 39 to 92, median 72) the mean (SD) HUI utility value was 0.80 (0.20), ranging from 0.18 to 1 (n=169) and logMAR score was 0.62 (0.42), ranging from 0 to 1.60 (n=202). The correlation between VA and utility was significant (r = -0.21, p=0.004, n=169) and the regression model indicated that a one unit increase in logMAR score was associated with 0.085 unit decrease in utility. Based on the regression model, HUI-based utilities decrease from 0.87 (logMAR -0.15) to 0.74 (logMAR 1.45) for typical patients in the randomized studies (mean age=67, logMAR fellow eye=0.09, disease duration=3.4 months). CONCLUSIONS: RVO is a debilitating ophthalmologic condition leading to reduced health utility with worsening of visual acuity.