Impact of visual impairment on physical activity in early and late age-related macular degeneration.

BACKGROUND

Modifiable risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) include smoking, nutrition and likely physical activity (PA). Levels of PA, however, are impacted by any visual impairment which makes the assessment of any association with AMD difficult.

PURPOSE

To assess the impact of visual impairment under both high and low luminance conditions on levels of PA in early and late AMD.

METHODS

Ninety participants with early to late AMD underwent a clinical assessment including conventional best-corrected visual acuity, low luminance visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and the Moorfields acuity test. PA was recorded using a wrist-worn accelerometer (GENEActiv, Activeinsights) on seven consecutive days. Patient characteristics were compared with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and determinants of moderate-to-vigorous-PA (MVPA) were assessed using linear regression models.

RESULTS

Mean age was 73.9 ± 8.5 years (range 50-89) and 47 subjects (52.2%) were women. Average MVPA time was longer in the early (355.1 ± 252.0 minutes/week) compared to the late AMD group (162.2 ± 134.6 minutes/week; p<0.001). Using linear regression, age [β = -0.25; 95% confidence interval (CI): -12.9; -0.8, p = 0.028] and AMD stage (β = -0.28; 95% CI: -230.9, -25.0; p = 0.015) but not visual impairment on any of the employed tests were associated with MVPA (minutes/week).

CONCLUSIONS

We found late AMD to be associated with reduced PA. As performance on any of the visual tests was not associated with PA, this association cannot entirely be explained by functional impairment. More research is needed to further explore the association of PA and AMD as PA may be a potentially modifiable risk factor.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The department received financial research support and/or imaging devices from Heidelberg Engineering, Carl Zeiss MediTec, CentreVue, Optos. F.G. Holz has received honoraria as a consultant for Heidelberg Engineering, Carl Zeiss MedicTec, Allergan, Alcon/Novartis, Genentech/Roche, Bayer, Acucela, Boehringer Ingelheim; R.P. Finger has received honoraria as a consultant for Bayer, Novartis, Genentech/Roche, Santen, Opthea, Novelion, Oxford Innovation, Santhera, Alimera. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.