National Eye Institute launches AMD progression study

The National Eye Institute is beginning a 5-year clinical study to learn more about the natural history of early age-related macular degeneration, according to a press release.

The AMD Ryan Initiative Study will track the eye health of 200 people with bilateral early AMD and 200 individuals with early reticular pseudodrusen, which has been suggested to be associated with a higher risk for late disease. An additional 100 age-matched, drusen-free control subjects will also be included in the study.

Visual function will be measured by dark-adapted fundus perimetry, and each participant will undergo routine spectral domain OCT.

“We want to better leverage advances in genetics, imaging and visual functioning tests so we can look at early-stage disease with more granularity,” Emily Y. Chew, MD, deputy clinical director at NEI and director of the NEI Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, said in the release. “There may be surrogate markers of an individual’s risk of developing late-stage disease long before the disease progresses.”

The study will take place at 20 sites where researchers will track drusen volume changes as well as other findings to see if they correspond to functional changes in visual acuity and dark adaptation, the release said.

A DNA analysis of the participants would ideally be included in the study to look for correlations between genes and AMD progression.

Reference: www.nih.gov