Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate differences in the dynamics of the pupillary response in healthy and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) subjects
Methods :
Four confirmed POAG, seven POAG suspects, and 16 healthy subjects were recruited from the Atwater Eye Care Clinic at Indiana University for this study. The study included 27 participants with an age range of 23-73 years (41.11 ± 20.64, M=8, F=19). The EyeLink® 1000 Plus Eye Tracker was used to capture pupil dynamics during constriction and dilation. The dynamics of the pupillary response were acquired for a total duration of five seconds (1 sec of white light flash at 100 cd/m2 is followed by 4 secs at low luminance of 3 cd/m2) after a few seconds of dark adaptation at 3 cd/m2. The mean amplitude and speed of the pupil constriction and dilation of three repeated trials were computed from the recorded pupillary response. The constriction and dilation speeds were computed based on the relative amplitude of the pupillary response to mitigate the contribution of age-related factors. The effect size (d) was estimated using Cohen’s D index
Results :
Figure 1 presents the pupillary response of all participants. The constriction amplitude was statistically significant between healthy (0.44±0.02) and POAG suspects (0.40±0.02) and confirmed POAG (0.36±0.02) as well as between suspects and confirmed POAG ((p<0.01, d=2.0), (p<0.002, d=4.0), (p<0.03, d=2.0), respectively). We also found a statistically significant difference in constriction speed between healthy (-0.80±0.07/s) and confirmed POAG (-0.63±0.06/s) subjects (p<0.003, d = 2.61) as well as between POAG suspects (-0.77±0.07/s) and confirmed POAG (p<0.01, d=0.43), but no statistically significant difference between healthy and POAG suspects (p<0.31). The dilation speed was statistically significant between the healthy (0.30±0.19/s) and confirmed POAG (0.24±0.02/s) subjects (p<0.03, d=0.57) but not between POAG suspects (0.29±0.02/s) and healthy or confirmed POAG (p<0.27, p<0.09, respectively)
Conclusions :
This study highlighted a few differences in pupil dynamics between healthy, POAG suspects, and confirmed POAG subjects. However, the extension of the study to a larger population is necessary to confirm our findings. Ultimately, these parameters can serve as diagnostic tools to detect POAG at the early stage
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.