Patient-reported vision impairment in low luminance relates to visual function in age-related macular degeneration: A MACUSTAR study report

Collaborators, Affiliations

Collaborators

MACUSTAR consortium:
H Agostini, I D Aires, L Altay, R Atia, F Bandello, P G Basile, J Batuca, C Behning, M Belmouhand, M Berger, A Binns, C J F Boon, M Böttger, J E Brazier, C Carapezzi, J Carlton, A Carneiro, A Charil, R Coimbra, D Cosette, M Cozzi, D P Crabb, J Cunha-Vaz, C Dahlke, H Dunbar, S Esposti, R P Finger, E Fletcher, M Gutfleisch, F Hartgers, B Higgins, J Hildebrandt, E Höck, R Hogg, F G Holz, C B Hoyng, A Kilani, J Krätzschmar, L Kühlewein, M Larsen, S Leal, Y T E Lechanteur, U F O Luhmann, A Lüning, N Manivannan, I Marques, C Martinho, K P Moll, Z Mulyukov, M Paques, B Parodi, M Parravano, S Penas, T Peters, T Peto, M Pfau, S Priglinger, S Ramamirtham, S Ribeiro, D Rowen, G S Rubin, J Sahel, C Sánchez, O Sander, M Saßmannshausen, M Schmid, S Schmitz-Valckenberg, J Siedlecki, R Silva, E Souied, G Staurenghi, J Tavares, D J Taylor, J H Terheyden, A Tufail, P Valmaggia, M Varano, A Wolf, N Zakaria

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
² Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³ UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.
⁵ Division of Optometry and Visual Sciences, School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, London, UK.
⁶ Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Roche Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development, Translational Medicine Ophthalmology, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. robertpatrick.finger@umm.de.
⁹ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim, Germany. robertpatrick.finger@umm.de.

PMID: 41068150
PMCID: PMC12511350
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-14553-4

Patient-reported vision impairment in low luminance relates to visual function in age-related macular degeneration: A MACUSTAR study report

Jan Henrik Terheyden et al. Sci Rep. 2025.

. 2025 Oct 9;15(1):35223.

doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14553-4.

Collaborators

MACUSTAR consortium:
H Agostini, I D Aires, L Altay, R Atia, F Bandello, P G Basile, J Batuca, C Behning, M Belmouhand, M Berger, A Binns, C J F Boon, M Böttger, J E Brazier, C Carapezzi, J Carlton, A Carneiro, A Charil, R Coimbra, D Cosette, M Cozzi, D P Crabb, J Cunha-Vaz, C Dahlke, H Dunbar, S Esposti, R P Finger, E Fletcher, M Gutfleisch, F Hartgers, B Higgins, J Hildebrandt, E Höck, R Hogg, F G Holz, C B Hoyng, A Kilani, J Krätzschmar, L Kühlewein, M Larsen, S Leal, Y T E Lechanteur, U F O Luhmann, A Lüning, N Manivannan, I Marques, C Martinho, K P Moll, Z Mulyukov, M Paques, B Parodi, M Parravano, S Penas, T Peters, T Peto, M Pfau, S Priglinger, S Ramamirtham, S Ribeiro, D Rowen, G S Rubin, J Sahel, C Sánchez, O Sander, M Saßmannshausen, M Schmid, S Schmitz-Valckenberg, J Siedlecki, R Silva, E Souied, G Staurenghi, J Tavares, D J Taylor, J H Terheyden, A Tufail, P Valmaggia, M Varano, A Wolf, N Zakaria

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
² Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³ UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.
⁵ Division of Optometry and Visual Sciences, School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, London, UK.
⁶ Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Roche Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development, Translational Medicine Ophthalmology, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. robertpatrick.finger@umm.de.
⁹ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim, Germany. robertpatrick.finger@umm.de.

PMID: 41068150
PMCID: PMC12511350
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-14553-4

Abstract

Early stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can lead to a number of visual function deficits, but the patient relevance of these deficits is largely unknown. We therefore investigated how bilateral visual function domains affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are associated with patient-reports. Using data from the cross-sectional part of the MACUSTAR study with 245 individuals with AMD (34 early AMD, 168 intermediate (i) AMD, 43 late AMD), the Vision Impairment in Low Luminance (VILL) questionnaire (subscales: reading, VILL_R; mobility, VILL_M; emotional well-being, VILL_E) and visual function assessments from both eyes (best-corrected and low-luminance visual acuity, BCVA, LLVA; Moorfields acuity, MA; contrast sensitivity, CS) were included. Associations between VILL and visual function data (better and worse eyes defined based on BCVA) were investigated using age- and sex-adjusted regression models. In the overall sample, VILL_R and VILL_M were associated with all functional tests across eyes (p ≤ 0.0389), while VILL_E was associated with MA and CS (p ≤ 0.0302). Regression estimates for BCVA, LLVA, MA and CS in the better-seeing eyes were -2.70, -1.84, -1.83 and 1.08 (VILL_R); -2.71, -1.87, -1.90 and 1.88 (VILL_M), and -0.25, -0.22, -2.15 and 1.57 (VILL_E). In iAMD, CS and MA in the worse-seeing eye were associated with two VILL subscales, respectively (VILL_R and VILL_M; VILL_M and VILL_E, respectively; p ≤ 0.0395), while BCVA and LLVA in the worse-seeing eye were both associated with one VILL subscale (VILL_M; p ≤ 0.0317). CS in the better eye was associated with VILL_M (p = 0.0454). Thus, patient-reported outcomes are associated with visual function assessments in both eyes in people with AMD. Contrast vision seems particularly patient-relevant in iAMD. Our results further support the construct validity of the VILL questionnaire.

Keywords: Age-related macular degeneration; Validation; Vision-related quality of life; Visual function.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: JHT: Beyer (C, F, R), Novartis (F, R), Roche (F), Okko (R) CB: None HMPD: Boehringer Ingelheim (C) SP: Novartis (E) NZ: Novartis (E) AMB: Apparatus and method for retinal measurement; Patent number 9492081 (P) MSa: Heidelberg Engineering (F), Optos (F), Carl Zeiss Meditec (F), CenterVue (F) SL: Bayer (E) MSc: None FGH: Acucela (C, F), Allergan (F), Apellis (C, F), Bayer (C, F), Boehringer-Ingelheim (C), Bioeq/Formycon (C, F), CenterVue (F), Ellex (F), Roche/Genentech (C, F), Geuder (C, F), Graybug (C), Gyroscope (C), Heidelberg Engineering (C, F), IvericBio (C, F), Kanghong (C, F), LinBioscience (C), NightStarX (F), Novartis (C, F), Optos (F), Oxurion (C), Pixium Vision (C, F), Oxurion (C), Stealth BioTherapeutics (C), Zeiss (C, F) DPC: Apellis (C, F), Santen (F, R), Allergan/AbbVie (R), Thea (R), Janssen (S) UFOL: F.Hoffmann-La Roche. Ltd. (E) RPF: Bayer (C, F), Novartis (C, F), Roche/Genentech (C), Alimera (C), Böhringer-Ingelheim (C), Santhera (C), Ellex (C), Novartis (C, F), Zeiss (F), Heidelberg Engineering (F), CenterVue (F), Biogen (F). Ethics: Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of all involved centres and all participants gave written informed consent. The study protocol followed the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Disclaimer: The communication reflects the author’s view and neither IMI nor the European Union, EFPIA, or any Associated Partners are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Correlation heatmap of VILL subscale scores (displayed in rows) and visual function testing results from both eyes (columns) across AMD stages (n = 245). BCVA, best-corrected visual acuity; BE, better eye; LLVA, low-luminance visual acuity; MAT, Moorfields acuity test; PR-CS, Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity; WE, worse eye.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Patient-reported vision impairment in low luminance relates to visual function in age-related macular degeneration: A MACUSTAR study report

Collaborators

Affiliations

Patient-reported vision impairment in low luminance relates to visual function in age-related macular degeneration: A MACUSTAR study report

Authors

Collaborators

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical