Título

DIFFERENT INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE READING PERFORMANCE WITHIN GLAUCOMA PATIENTS

Introdução

Discussing quality of life within patients living with glaucoma is inevitable since, nowadays, it is the number one irreversible cause of vision loss and it is estimate to have 5,9 million people with blindness due to glaucoma in 2020. This study focus on evaluating the impact of contrast, font size or line spacing in reading performance within Glaucoma Patients in Federal University of São Paulo using iPAD's Minnesota Low Vision Reading Test (MNREAD) application.

Métodos

This is a prospective cross-sectional study including 30 patients diagnosed with Glaucoma. The diagnosis was defined based on the presence of repeatable standard automatic perimetry (SAP) defects at time of evaluation in at least one eye. A detailed ophthalmological examination was performed on each subject. All patients had repeatable SAP (at least 2) and all patients went through a reading performance test based on the iPad app of the MNREAD (Minnesota Low Vision Reading Test), translated and validated to Portuguese. Only glaucoma patients with at least visual acuity better than 0.5 logMAR in both eyes were included. Reading speed (leters per minute) was assessed as the main reading performance variable, after testing 5 types of contrast, font size and line spacing. Potential biases, such as social and economical status and comorbity were adjusted by multiple regression analysis.

Resultados

Mean age of patients with glaucoma was 66.04± 13.67. There were 23 female patients and 7 male patients. Average VA of the better eye was 0.16±0.15 LogMAR. Average VA of the worse eye was 0.26±0.20 LogMAR. Average MD of best eye was - 7.26±7.46 and of worst eye was -11.25±9,21. There was statistical significance in the average reading speed when contrast was increased: 55.14±48.00 leters/minute and 99.59±32.11 leters/minute, respectively (p'<'0.001) in all interventions. And there was also statistical significance for the font Size 90.71±39.32 and 95.01±35.47, respectively (p=0.028) for the first intervention.

Conclusões

Patients with glaucoma improved their reading performance when contrast and font size were increased. Nevertheless, there was no change in reading performance when line spacing was altered. These findings enlarge our knowledge about interventions that may help daily activities of patients living with glaucoma.

Palavras Chave

Glaucoma, Reading Performance, Mnread; Contrast; Font Size; Line spacing

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