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  • Baseline Predictors and Vision in Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials Study

    By Jean Shaw
    Selected By: Andrew P. Schachat, MD
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    Journal Highlights

    Ophthalmology Retina, June 2018

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    In a secondary analysis of data from the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) study, Ying et al. set out to determine baseline predictors of 5-year visual acuity (VA) outcomes in patients who were treated with either bevaci­zumab or ranibizumab for wet age-re­lated macular degeneration (AMD).

    For this study, the researchers evaluated 647 patients who had participated in CATT and completed a 5-year follow-up visit. At the 5-year mark, the mean VA in the study eye was approximately 20/63, and the mean loss from baseline was 3.3 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters. Of these patients, 114 (17.6%) had gained ≥3 letters, and 129 (19.9%) had a VA of 20/200 or worse.

    In keeping with their earlier analyses of the CATT patient population, the researchers found that the presence at baseline of worse VA, larger choroidal neovascularization (CNV) lesion area, and any retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) elevation remained independently associated with worse VA at the 5-year mark. The researchers also evaluated 5-year VA outcomes accord­ing to genotype; in another confirma­tion of earlier findings, no association emerged between VA outcomes at 5 years and any of the 21 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) evaluated. Finally, they found that male sex, cig­arette smoking, absence of subretinal fluid, and treatment with ranibizumab during the first 2 years of CATT were independently associated with worse visual outcomes at 5 years.

    The association with current smok­ing had not emerged in the earlier anal­yses; in this study, current smokers were 2.6 times more likely than nonsmokers to have a VA of 20/200 or worse at 5 years.

    The original article can be found here.