Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy in Japanese Patients: Clinical Features, Visual Function, and Factors Affecting Visual Function

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical features and investigate their relationship with visual function in Japanese patients with acute zonal occult outer retinopathy (AZOOR). METHODS: Fifty-two eyes of 38 Japanese AZOOR patients (31 female and 7 male patients; mean age at first visit, 35.0 years; median follow-up duration, 31 months) were retrospectively collected: 31 untreated eyes with good visual acuity and 21 systemic corticosteroid-treated eyes with progressive visual acuity loss. Variables affecting the logMAR values of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and the mean deviation (MD) on Humphrey perimetry at initial and final visits were examined using multiple stepwise linear regression analysis. RESULTS: In untreated eyes, the mean MD at the final visit was significantly higher than that at the initial visit (P = 0.00002). In corticosteroid-treated eyes, the logMAR BCVA and MD at the final visit were significantly better than the initial values (P = 0.007 and P = 0.02, respectively). The final logMAR BCVA was 0.0 or less in 85% of patients. Variables affecting initial visual function were moderate anterior vitreous cells, myopia severity, and a-wave amplitudes on electroretinography; factors affecting final visual function were the initial MD values, female sex, moderate anterior vitreous cells, and retinal atrophy. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that visual functions in enrolled patients significantly improved spontaneously or after systemic corticosteroids therapy, suggesting that Japanese patients with AZOOR have good visual outcomes during the follow-up period of this study. Furthermore, initial visual field defects, gender, anterior vitreous cells, and retinal atrophy affected final visual functions in these patients.