Taylor Deanna J, Edwards Laura A, Binns Alison M, Crabb David P
Division of Optometry and Visual Science, School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, London, UK.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2018 Jan;38(1):98-105. doi: 10.1111/opo.12419. Epub 2017 Nov 23.
A realistic description of visual symptoms associated with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is important for raising awareness of the condition and educating patients. This study aimed to develop a set of descriptors for dry AMD and examine the realism of images currently and frequently used to show visual symptoms of the condition.
Volunteers with dry AMD with a range of disease severity were given an eye examination and were asked to describe visual symptoms of their condition in a conversational interview. Participants were also asked to comment on a photograph typically used to portray the visual symptoms of AMD. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and subjected to content analysis.
Twenty-nine participants were interviewed. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 75 (70, 79) years. Median (IQR) binocular visual acuity (VA) and Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity (CS) was 0.2 (0.18, 0.36) logMAR and 1.65 (1.50, 1.95) log CS respectively. Three, 17 and nine patients had early, intermediate and late (geographic atrophy, GA) AMD, respectively. The most frequently reported descriptor group was blur (n = 13) followed by missing (n = 10) and distortion (n = 7). We chose the most popular image used to portray the visual symptoms of dry AMD based on an internet search and showed this to 21 participants. Sixteen participants (76% [95% confidence interval 53-92%]), including three out of the seven people with geographic atrophy, unequivocally rejected the realism of the image.
People with dry AMD use a wide range of descriptors for their visual experience. Visual symptoms of dry AMD as portrayed by commonly shown images were not the experience of most people in this study.
真实描述与干性年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD）相关的视觉症状对于提高对该疾病的认识和教育患者非常重要。本研究旨在制定一套干性AMD的描述词，并检验目前经常用于展示该疾病视觉症状的图像的真实性。
对患有不同疾病严重程度的干性AMD志愿者进行眼部检查，并在对话访谈中要求他们描述自己病情的视觉症状。参与者还被要求对一张通常用于描绘AMD视觉症状的照片发表评论。访谈进行了录音、转录并进行内容分析。
对29名参与者进行了访谈。年龄中位数（四分位间距[IQR]）为75（70，79）岁。双眼视力（VA）和佩利-罗布森对比敏感度（CS）的中位数（IQR）分别为0.2（0.18，0.36）logMAR和1.65（1.50，1.95）log CS。分别有3名、17名和9名患者患有早期、中期和晚期（地图样萎缩，GA）AMD。最常报告的描述词组是模糊（n = 13），其次是缺失（n = 10）和变形（n = 7）。我们根据互联网搜索选择了最常用于描绘干性AMD视觉症状的图片，并向21名参与者展示。16名参与者（76%[95%置信区间53 - 92%]），包括7名地图样萎缩患者中的3名，明确拒绝了该图片的真实性。
干性AMD患者对其视觉体验使用了广泛的描述词。本研究中，常见图片所描绘的干性AMD视觉症状并非大多数人的体验。
