TUESDAY, June 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with primary open-angle glaucoma, structural macular retinal ganglion cell plus inner plexiform layer (RGC+IPL) loss is associated with vision-related quality of life, according to a study published online June 8 in JAMA Ophthalmology.
Alisa J. Prager, M.D., M.P.H., from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional prospective study involving 107 patients representing the entire range of glaucomatous damage. Participants underwent 10-2 visual field tests and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans, and they also completed the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) and received ophthalmologic examination. The correlation between NEI VFQ-25 scores and patterns of RGC+IPL loss and thickness measures was assessed.
The researchers found that patients with diffuse macular RGC+IPL loss had mean composite Rasch-calibrated NEI VFQ-25 scores that were lower than the scores of patients with focal damage by 6.15 points in univariate analysis. After controlling for mean RGC+IPL thickness, the effect remained significant.
"Characteristic patterns of glaucoma-related macular RGC+IPL loss appeared to be more important predictors of vision-related quality of life than thickness measures, with diffuse RGC+IPL loss as an indicator for diminished vision-related quality of life," the authors write.
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the optical equipment and medical technology industries.
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