Published by:
Pardhan S et al. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017. doi: 10.1167/iovs.16-20273.
Central vision loss affects daily tasks more than peripheral
Published by:
Pardhan S et al. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017. doi: 10.1167/iovs.16-20273.
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Patients with central vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration have greater difficulty in visually guided manual prehension and object placement as compared to patients with peripheral visual field loss caused by glaucoma, a study showed.
The study was conducted on 17 glaucoma patients with peripheral field loss (PFL), 17 AMD patients with central field loss (CFL) and 10 age-matched controls.
Participants had to reach toward and grasp a cylindrical object and transport and place it at a predefined peripheral location. Kinematic data were collected with Vicon 460 three-dimensional motion analysis system. Twenty-four trials were conducted for each participant, for a total of 1,056 trials.
Post-hoc analysis was divided in two phases: reach-to-grasp and transport-to-place. Collected data demonstrated significant differences between groups in the reach-to-grasp phase, with greater overall movement time, longer reaction time, longer deceleration time and slower velocity corrections as well as a slower aperture of the hand after maximum grip for the CFL group in comparison to the PFL group. No significant differences were registered in maximum grip aperture, peak velocity and time-to-reach peak velocity.
Significant differences were also reported in the transport-to-place phase, with greater transport duration, lateral velocity corrections, deceleration time and number of object-placing errors for the CFL group.
This study suggests that CFL will affect daily activities more than peripheral visual field loss.
“Manual prehension tasks that involve reaching and grasping an object and then transporting it to another location are important activities of daily living,” the authors wrote. “Health care professionals/care givers should be aware that, for patients with central field defects, however acquired, such tasks may be difficult, and this should be reflected in the health care they receive.” – by Michela Cimberle
Disclosure: The authors report no financial disclosures.