Abstract
Purpose :
The Useful Field of View (UFOV) is a test of processing speed under conditions of divided attention that has been proposed to be predictive of risk of being involved in motor vehicle crashes (MVC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between longitudinal changes in UFOV and standard automated perimetry (SAP) in glaucoma patients.
Methods :
This was a prospective observational cohort study including 122 eyes of 61 glaucoma patients, defined based on the presence of repeatable SAP visual field defects at baseline. Patients were followed for an average of 2.8 ± 0.6 years, with 6-month testing. All patients had at least 5 UFOV and 5 SAP tests during the follow-up. Linear regression was used to evaluate changes in UFOV divided attention and SAP integrated binocular mean sensitivity (MS) over time.
Results :
Mean age at baseline was 67.5 ± 12.3 years. Average UFOV divided attention at baseline was 108.5 ± 113.9 ms. Mean rates of change in UFOV divided attention and SAP MS were -16.11 ± 33.9 ms/year and -0.28 ± 0.5 dB/year, respectively. Rates of change on UFOV were not significantly associated with rates of change on SAP (P = 0.667). From the 61 patients, 6 (10%) showed significant decrease in UFOV divided attention times (i.e, improvement) over time, with average rate of change of -37.35 ± 45.04 ms/year. These patients had mean rate of change on SAP MS of -0.19 ± 0.3 dB/year. No patients showed statistically significant increase in UFOV divided attention times (i.e, deterioration) over time.
Conclusions :
Some patients seem to show significant improvement on UFOV divided attention over time, which is apparently due to a learning effect. Changes in UFOV divided attention in glaucoma patients were not significantly associated with changes in binocular visual field MS. Due to the presence of substantial learning effects over time, further studies are important in order to clarify the role of longitudinal UFOV measurements in monitoring risk of MVC in patients with glaucoma or other conditions.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.