Purpose:
To describe the difficulties experienced by patients with GAcross-sectionally and longitudinally.
Methods:
A questionnaire was completed at baseline and annually by subjectsenrolled in the NIH-funded prospective natural history studyof geographic atrophy from AMD, conducted at Wilmer from 1992-2000.Each visit also included measurement of best-corrected visualacuity, contrast sensitivity, reading rate, low luminance visualacuity, and microperimetry, as well as a clinical examination.Measurement of GA area was performed using color fundus photographs.Results are shown for subjects with bilateral GA.
Results:
The tables give the percentage of subjects in each categoryreporting frequent difficulty.
Conclusions:
Reading, recognizing faces, and finding a street sign worsenedwith worse visual acuity and with larger GA area at baseline.Longitudinally, reading and face recognition worsened significantlyover time. Difficulty with dim illumination was already presentin 81% of patients with good acuity, and did not worsen significantlywith worsening acuity or with larger GA. This information willbe helpful in designing quality of life questionnaires for futureGA clinical trials.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • low vision