Visual Function and Its Relationship with Severity of Early, and Activity of Neovascular, Age-Related Macular Degeneration

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between visual function and severity of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and activity of neovascular (nv-) AMD. METHODS: The following data was collected from 66 eyes of 66 subjects with early AMD and 47 eyes of 47 subjects with active nv-AMD: corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA); contrast sensitivity (CS); glare disability (GD); and retinotopic ocular sensitivity (ROS) of the central 5° of the retina, by microperimetry. Fundus photographic grading of early AMD was performed in a masked fashion. Mean foveal thickness (MFT) was measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography in patients with nv-AMD. RESULTS: In subjects with early AMD, there was an inverse and statistically significant relationship between measures of ROS within the central 5° of retina (including fixation) and severity of early AMD (p=0.01). In eyes with active nv-AMD, an inverse and statistically significant relationship was observed between measures of MFT and measures of ROS at the central 5° of retina (r=-0.34; p=0.02). No other measures, including CDVA, were significantly related to severity of early AMD, or to MFT in nv-AMD. CONCLUSION: Although ROS was cross-sectionally associated with disease severity, and inversely related to MFT, an important determinant of need-to-treat in cases of nv-AMD, further research is required to determine the appropriateness of ROS for monitoring early and active neovascular forms of this disease.