An observational study in Macular Degeneration and Age-Related Macular Degeneration, sponsored by University of Manchester. Completed at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 50 Years to 80 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-07-06.
Sponsored by University of Manchester · Observational
Age Related Macular Disease (AMD) is easily the leading cause of blindness in older people in developed countries. It affects between 30 and 50 million individuals worldwide, with around 30% of the over 65's showing early signs of the disease. Severe AMD has a devastating impact on the quality of life; it causes extensive visual impairment, making reading difficult and driving impossible. Patients lose their independence and become a major burden on public health systems.
Present treatment options are limited. Many new therapies are under development and all will need evaluation using a test with high specificity and sensitivity for early AMD. The present application will develop such an instrument. The prototype was funded by a previous i4i FS (feasibility study ll-FS-0110-14036). The new device measures sensitivity to a dim flickering light using the same principle as an established european conformity marked (CE marked) instrument. The original method involved lights of different wavelengths and higher intensities.
The instrument in this study assesses night vision, which is selectively damaged in early stage AMD. In low lighting, the investigators vision depends on specialized rod photoreceptors. Cone photoreceptors, which provide daytime vision, remain normal in the early stages of the disease. By the time patients complain of reduced (cone-based) visual acuity, they will have had the disease for many years and lost many thousands of photoreceptors.
In a clinical environment dark adaptation (DA) is measured by exposing the patient to a brief bright light and then measuring their sensitivity to a flickering light. This sensitivity recovery has a typical appearance; an early rapid recovery mediated by the colour vision system (cone photoreceptors) and a slower recovery of the low light system (rod photoreceptors).
If the measurements are made against a black background then a bi exponential model is suitable, however if a dim luminous background is used then the recovery is better modelled by a exponential bi linear model. We will use the exponential bilinear model, which has seven parameters. The parameters are as follows; the exponential cone phase is modelled by the cone threshold, cone coefficient, and cone time constant. The S2 rod phase is modelled by its commencement time. This is the time when the rod system becomes more sensitive than the cone system, sometimes called the cone-rod break point (alpha) and the slope of the subsequent thresholds. The late rod phase (S3) is similarly modelled by a transition time or rod-rod breakpoint (beta) and its slope.
If the initial bright light is sufficiently intense then the recovery of the rod phase (S2) is termed rate limited. There is evidence that this recovery rate is a useful measure of the health of the light sensing layer of the eye an adjoining tissues, the retina, retinal pigment epithelium and choroid. It is these tissues that are thought to be affected in age related macular disease.
In this study we will measure rate of rod recovery sometimes called the S2 phase. We want to see whether this measurement can be used to identify patients with and without early macular disease.
1,474 studies on the registry are indexed under Macular Degeneration; 206 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 106 across 421 observational studies indexed under Macular Degeneration.
Browse Macular Degeneration studies →University of Manchester is the lead sponsor of 194 studies on the registry; 43 are open to participants now.
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Participants will be recruited from a the greater manchester area by a call for volunteers, through the local newspaper, a university email list and through the Hale Barns Macular Disease Association
Exclusion Criteria:
Lifestyle factors
Health factors
Systemic Diabetes Liver disease, Hepatitis: Past or present Digestive disorders, e.g. Crohns, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lactose intolerance Bowel surgery, stomach staple, ileostomy, colostomy Kidney disorder (elevated iron) Chronic alcoholism or drug abuse
Aged 50 to 80 with no macular disease
Aged 50 to 80 with early AREDS defined 2,3 age related maculopathy
The rate of recovery of the rod phase S2
Dark adaptation will be measured in 40 participants; 20 healthy and 20 with early macular disease. This index of retinal health will be analysed for its sensitivity and specificity for the identification participants with macular disease.
Time frame: At participant visit only
Lifestyle questionnaire
We have a simple questionnaire to investigate factors reported in the literature to have an effect on macular health. We will use the categorical data collected by the questionnaire to assess the influence of these lifestyle measures on the index of retinal health found from the dark adaptation measurement.
Time frame: At participant visit only.
Participant Experience Questionnaire
We will give each participant a questionnaire when they finish their visit and will ask for their experience of the process of dark adaptation measurement.
Time frame: Within one month of participant visit.
This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Manchester