title: Visual Acuity Loss and Associated Risk Factors in the Retrospective Progression of Stargardt Disease Study (ProgStar Report No. 2).
abstract: To examine the association between characteristics of Stargardt disease and visual acuity (VA), to estimate the longitudinal rate of VA loss, and to identify risk factors for VA loss.
  
  
  
  Retrospective, multicenter cohort study.
  
  
  
  A total of 176 patients (332 eyes) with molecularly and clinically confirmed Stargardt disease enrolled from the United States and Europe.
  
  
  
  Standardized data report forms were used to collect retrospective data on participants' characteristics and best-corrected or presenting VA from medical charts. Linear models with generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the cross-sectional associations, and linear mixed effects models were used to estimate the longitudinal VA loss.
  
  
  
  Yearly change in VA.
  
  
  
  The median duration of observation was 3.6 years. At baseline, older age of symptom onset was associated with better VA, and a longer duration of symptoms was associated with worse VA. Longitudinal analysis estimated an average of 0.3 lines loss (P < 0.0001) per year overall, but the rate varied according to baseline VA: (1) eyes with baseline VA ≥20/25 (N = 53) declined at a rate of approximately 1.0 line per year; (2) eyes with VA between 20/25 and 20/70 (N = 65) declined at a rate of approximately 0.9 lines per year; (3) eyes with VA between 20/70 and 20/200 (N = 163) declined at a rate of 0.2 lines per year; and (4) eyes with VA worse than 20/200 (n = 49) improved at a rate of 0.5 lines per year. Older age of onset was associated with slower VA loss: Patients with onset age >30 years showed 0.4 lines slower change of VA per year (P = 0.01) compared with patients with onset age ≤14 years.
  
  
  
  Given the overall slow rate of VA loss, VA is unlikely to be a sensitive outcome measure for treatment trials of Stargardt disease. However, given the faster decline in younger patients and those with no or mild visual impairment, VA may be a potential outcome measure for trials targeting such subgroups of patients. These observations will need to be assessed in a prospective study bearing in mind the inherent limitations of retrospective datasets.
authors.affiliation: Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Xiangrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom; Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University Graz and Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria.
authors.forename: Rupert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.affiliation: Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michaelides
authors.affiliation: Scheie Eye Institute, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Artur V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Cideciyan
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, University Pierre et Marie Curie Université de Paris 06, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de la Vision, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, France.
authors.forename: José-Alain
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sahel
authors.affiliation: Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: West
authors.affiliation: Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: hscholl1@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Hendrik P N
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Scholl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D000080362:Stargardt Disease; D014481:United States; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014792:Visual Acuity; D055815:Young Adult