Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate the influence of systemic risk factors on macular function in early to intermediate macular degeneration (AMD)
Methods :
In a prospective study, focal macular electroretinograms (fERGs, 18 deg, 41 Hz) were recorded from a cohort of 140 AMD patients (M/F: 60/80, age 55-87 yrs), who underwent a long term 5 years clinical ophthalmic and general follow-up. Sixty-five patients had early and 75 intermediate AMD. Early neovascularization or impending geographic atrophy patients were excluded. fERG amplitude and phase were the main outcome variables
Results :
Multivariate analysis of variance showed that, after correction for age (p < 0.001) and AMD stage (p < 0.05) as covariates, smoking history and systemic hypertension had no effect, while non-insulin dependent (NID) diabetes (even with less than 5 years duration) negatively impacted on fERG amplitude (p < 0.02)
Conclusions :
In a multivariate model evaluating the effect of systemic risk factors on central fERG in early and intermediate AMD, even a NID diabetes of short duration negatively influences macular function, suggesting its prominent role on early stages of disease progression
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.