New Journal Studies AAO

 

Mediterranean diet may protect against late AMD
Investigators examined a year’s worth of dietary data on 4,753 people from 7 European countries. Using the previously published Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), the authors showed that participants in the highest MDS category had a 20% reduced risk of developing late AMD (P=0.05). No link emerged between diet score, early AMD or presence of complement factor H Y402H alleles. The authors note that their study was carried out prior to routine use of OCT, so some early features of AMD may have been misclassified. Ophthalmology, January 2017

Computer-based image analysis may help improve ROP diagnosis
Investigators recruited expert and nonexpert graders to analyze ROP screening images from the web-based image severity assessment platform known as the i-ROP system. While the graders disagreed on diagnostic classification (plus vs. pre-plus vs. normal), the experts agreed on the relative ordering of ROP disease severity, which suggests that use of pairwise rankings and a continuous severity score, such as that provided by the i-ROP system, may improve agreement on disease severity. Ophthalmology, November 2016

 

Hypotensive medication may slow diabetic retinopathy progression
Investigators retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 82 patients with type 2 diabetes to evaluate the effect of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors on DR progression. After 1 year of follow-up, 25% of patients taking DPP4 inhibitors had progressed 1 or more steps on the ETDRS severity scale, compared to 48% among a control group of patients taking other hypotensive medications (P=0.043). Metabolic status, especially glucose concentrations at both initial diagnosis and at 1 year follow-up, were similar between the DPP4 inhibitor group and controls. The difference in progression rate remained significant after accounting for confounding characteristics (P=0.009). Retina, December 2016

 

 

Ranibizumab and aflibercept appear comparable for AMD treatment
This database observational study directly compared visual acuity outcomes and injection frequency in 372 patients with wet AMD who were treated with either ranibizumab aflibercept in routine clinical practice. Mean visual acuity improved in both groups over the 12-month period, with a similar number of injections. Additionally, there was no difference in CNV inactivation. The rate of switching between treatments was low, mainly from ranibizumab to aflibercept, and didn’t result in a detectable visual benefit. Though this was not a prospective, randomized study, the authors believe their data likely reflect real-world practice and outcomes. Ophthalmology, December 2016