Abstract
Purpose :
It has been suggested that pregnancy and the use of the oral contraceptive pill can have a detrimental effect on vision in patients with Inherited Retinal Dystrophies (IRD). The purpose of this study was to assess, using a questionnaire, the reported effect of pregnancy and the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) in 60 patients with IRD.
Methods :
Information was collected through a questionnaire. The target number was 60 participants. Questions included history of pregnancy, number of pregnancies, if any visual deterioration was noted in pregnancy, if so in how many, at what stage, if the deterioration was central or peripheral, and if the vision recovered post-partum. Patients were asked if they had taken OCP and if visual deterioration was noted while taking this.
Results :
The questionnaire had 61 respondents, 96.7% had been pregnant. Of those 96.7%, 63.9% had 1-2 pregnancies with 32.8% having 3 or more and 23.7% of participants reported a visual deterioration in pregnancy. Of the 14 participants who reported visual loss during pregnancy, 64.3% stated this was in the 3rd trimester; 14.3% in the 1st trimester, 0% reported in the 2nd trimester and 21.4% failed to respond. The pattern of visual loss was peripheral in 57.1% and central in 42.9%. No participant reported improvement post-partum.
Use of the OCP was reported by 63.9% of participants. The results show that only 5.1% noted visual deterioration; 84.6% did not, and 10.3% did not answer the question.
Conclusions :
The results show that 23.7% of participants with IRD noted visual deterioration during pregnancy, most commonly in the 3rd trimester with a small percentage in the 1st trimester. Use of the OCP was only associated with reported visual deterioration in 5%. None of those who reported visual deterioration in pregnancy or with the OCP reported any improvement post-partum indicating the change may be irreversible.
The study is limited by the subjective nature of the observations however the results suggest that further research into the correlation and causes of visual deterioration in IRD and pregnancy may be indicated.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.