Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the progression of visual impairment at 12 months on various visual function tests in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods :
Visual function of 44 participants recruited during the baseline study were re-assessed at 12 months. Participants with varying severity were classified into 1) Healthy aging (N=9), 2) intermediate AMD (iAMD) without subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD) (N=17), 3) iAMD with SDD (N=10) and 4) non-foveal atrophy (N=8). Changes at 12 months in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), low luminance visual acuity (LLVA), low luminance deficit (LLD), low luminance questionnaire (LLQ), mean scotopic perimetry, rod intercept time (RIT) and photopic ERGs were analysed using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test.
Results :
Compared to baseline, delayed rod recovery in iAMD group without SDD group (p=0.043) was observed at 12 months. Lower composite scores on LLQ questionnaire were noted after 1-year review only in eyes with non-foveal atrophy (p=0.016). A decrease in BCVA of 4.5 ETDRS letters was observed in iAMD with SDD group (p= 0.035) and eyes with atrophic changes (p=0.008) at 12 months. There was no change over time in any other functional tests.
Conclusions :
Rod recovery test is able to identify worsening of visual function in eyes with iAMD without SDD by 12 months while deterioration of LLQ score was observed in eyes with non-foveal atrophy only. These changes will inform future clinical trial designs in AMD.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.