Publication Date
6-3-2024
Journal
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
DOI
10.1167/iovs.65.6.5
PMID
38833260
PMCID
PMC11156206
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
6-4-2024
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Humans, Female, Male, Cross-Sectional Studies, Middle Aged, Visual Acuity, Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Adult, Self Report, Usher Syndromes, Surveys and Questionnaires, Retinal Degeneration, Aged, Young Adult, Quality of Life, Adolescent, Retinitis Pigmentosa
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate self-reported functional vision (FV) and the impact of vision loss in patients with USH2A-associated retinal degeneration using a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure, the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire (MRDQ), to correlate MRDQ scores with well-established visual function measurements.
DESIGN: An observational cross-sectional study (n = 93) of participants who had Usher Syndrome Type 2 (USH2, n = 55) or autosomal recessive non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa (ARRP; n = 38) associated with biallelic variants in the USH2A gene.
METHODS: The study protocol was approved by all ethics boards and informed consent was obtained from each participant. Participants completed the MRDQ at the 48-month study follow-up visit. Disease duration was self-reported by participants. One-way ANOVA was used to compare subgroups (clinical diagnosis, age, disease duration, and full-field stimulus threshold [FST] Blue-Red mediation) on mean scores per domain. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess associations between MRDQ domains and visual/retinal function assessments.
RESULTS: Of the study sample, 58% were female participants and the median disease duration was 13 years. MRDQ domains were sensitive to differences between subgroups of clinical diagnosis, age, disease duration, and FST Blue-Red mediation. MRDQ domains correlated with static perimetry, microperimetry, full-field stimulus testing, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA).
CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported FV measured by the MRDQ, when applied to USH2 and ARRP participants, had good distributional characteristics and correlated well with visual function tests. MRDQ adds a new dimension of understanding on vision-related functioning and establishes this PRO tool as an informative measure in evaluating USH2A outcomes.