@article {1532344, title = {Early Ophthalmic Changes in Macula Does Not Correlate with Visual Function}, journal = {Clin Ophthalmol}, volume = {14}, year = {2020}, month = {2020}, pages = {2571-2576}, abstract = {Purpose: Early detection and treatment of age-related macular degeneration require a clear understanding of the early progress of the disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether minimal macular ophthalmoscopic changes corresponded to changes in visual function. Methods: Color macular photos from a group of older subjects who were classified as grade 0 on AREDS simplified grading were further evaluated by a retinal specialist using 5x magnification for possible minimal macular anomalies. Group 0-A ( = 15) were defined as subjects with no visible macular anomalies while Group 0-B ( = 19) comprised subjects for whom minimal macular mottling, pigment changes or very small drusen (\< 63 {\textmu}m) were observed in the study eye. All subjects had best VA of 20/25 or better and had no evidence of other retinal diseases in the study eye. All subjects underwent a series of visual function tests such as standard ETDRS VA, low luminance ETDRS VA, Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity, variable contrast flicker (VCF) sensitivity, and reading speed (words per minute, wpm) using both MNRead and low luminance reading on a tablet. Results: There was no significant difference between the mean age between the two groups (74.8 {\textpm} 5.2 years for 0-A vs 74.5 {\textpm} 4.4 for 0-B, = 0.82). None of the visual function tests identified any significant difference between the two groups. Mean ETDRS VA was 0.0 {\textpm} 0.11 for 0-A subjects and 0.08 {\textpm} 0.12 for 0-B ( = 0.063). Mean Pelli-Robson log contrast sensitivity was 1.75 {\textpm} 0.29 for 0-A and 1.78 {\textpm} 0.17 for the 0-B group ( = 0.73). VCF threshold was 0.47 {\textpm} 0.25 for 0-A and 0.43 {\textpm} 0.22 for 0-B ( = 0.64). Reading speed using MNRead was 214 {\textpm} 47.4 wpm for 0-A and 210 {\textpm} 64.7 for 0-B ( = 0.85). Low luminance tablet reading speed was 137 {\textpm} 71.8 wpm for 0-A and 151 {\textpm} 39.4 (0-B) ( = 0.49). Conclusion: A panel of psychophysical tests did not demonstrate significant differences between subjects with and without minimal macular changes.}, issn = {1177-5467}, doi = {10.2147/OPTH.S260787}, author = {Narayanan, Divya and Wallstrom, Garrick and Rodriguez, John and Welch, Donna and Chapin, Matthew and Arrigg, Paul and Patil, Rajkumar and Abelson, Mark} }