Topographic location of geographic atrophy impacts vision-related quality of life

In patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a greater area of atrophy in the central 1-mm-diameter zone of the eye with the least atrophy is independently associated with lower vision-related quality of life (VRQoL), according to a study, which also found that the total area of atrophy in either eye was not associated with VRQoL.

In this study, the GA lesions of 237 eyes (161 participants) were manually delineated with color fundus photographs. For each participant, the atrophic area was measured in an Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) grid and VRQoL was measured using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) for the eye with the most atrophy and the eye with the least atrophy.

The average area of atrophy in the better eye was 3.43mm² and in the worse eye 7.15mm².

VRQoL was not found to be associated with the total area of atrophy in the better eye or worse eye. In the better eye, area of atrophy in the central 1-mm-diameter zone was significantly associated with VRQoL when the ETDRS subfields were examined individually, grouped into quadrants, inner and outer zones, or vertical and horizontal zones.

Reference
Ahluwalia A, Shen LL, Bao Y, et al. The influence of the topographic location of geographic atrophy on vision-related quality of life in nonexudative age-related macular degeneration. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2022;doi: 10.1007/s00417-022-05849-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36269402.