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Study links dark adaptation to AMD status, reticular pseudodrusen

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MIAMI — Age-related macular degeneration and presence of reticular pseudodrusen had a significant impact on dark adaptation, Catherine Cukras, MD, PhD, told colleagues at Angiogenesis, Exudation, and Degeneration 2015.

Catherine Cukras

“There’s impairment in dark adaptation associated with age-related macular degeneration severity and, strikingly, with reticular pseudodrusen,” Cukras said.

The study included 116 patients older than 50 years with reticular pseudodrusen, large drusen or late AMD who underwent dark adaptometry testing and OCT imaging. The primary outcome measure was rod intercept time (RIT), a measure of dark adaptation.

Patients were assigned to one of five groups: those with reticular pseudodrusen (15 patients), controls with no large drusen (group zero, 42 patients), those with large drusen in study eye only (group one, 13 patients), those with large drusen in both eyes (group two, 31 patients), or those with large drusen in study eye and late AMD in fellow eye (group three, 15 patients).

Mean age was significantly greater in the reticular pseudodrusen group than in the other groups (P = .03).

Results showed an association between average RIT and age, AMD severity and presence of reticular pseudodrusen.

“We can see that there’s an increase in average rod intercept time that increases monotonically with increasing AMD severity, with the eyes with reticular pseudodrusen having the highest mean rod intercept time,” Cukras said.

Mean RIT was 13.3 minutes in group zero, 17.1 minutes in group one, 24.3 minutes in group 2, 26.6 minutes in group three and 39.1 minutes in the RPD group.

Results showed a negative correlation between RIT and visual acuity.

Presence of reticular pseudodrusen had the greatest association with impaired dark adaptation (P < .0001)

Choroidal thickness was significantly lower in the reticular pseudodrusen group than in the other groups, Cukras said. – by Matt Hasson and Patricia Nale, ELS

Disclosure: Cukras reports no relevant financial disclosures.