OBJECTIVES: To investigate the validity of the 39-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-39) at baseline in German patients with age-related macular generation (AMD). METHODS: Ongoing prospective observational study in which 137 patients attended a clinic in Germany. Patients belonged to one of 3 severity classes: 1) early AMD in both eyes (n=25); 2) late-stage AMD in one eye and early-stage AMD in the other eye (n=71); and 3) late-stage AMD in both eyes (n=41). Correlations of baseline scores were calculated between NEI-VFQ-39 and visual acuity. Baseline mean scores on the NEI-VFQ-39 were compared for different AMD severity using linear regression adjusting for gender, age, education, and smoking. RESULTS: Scores on visual acuity correlated moderately, as expected, with NEI-VFQ-39 domain scores on General Vision (r=0.48), Near Activities (r=0.52), Distant Activities (r=0.46), and Peripheral Vision (r=0.44). As expected, visual acuity correlated modestly though meaningfully with Social Functioning (r=0.31), Mental Health (r=0.31), Role Difficulties (r=0.36), Dependency (r=0.38), Driving (r=0.34), and Color Vision (r=0.30); visual acuity showed little or no correlation with General Health (r=0.13) and Ocular Pain (r=-0.09). Significant differences (p <0.01) in mean scores among severity levels of AMD were observed for all NEI-VFQ-39 domains except for domains on Driving, General Health, and Ocular Pain. CONCLUSIONS: The German version of the NEI-VFQ-39 exhibits baseline validity as a measure of functional impairment in patients with AMD.