Relationship between macular pigment and mesopic visual function in early age‐related maculopathy

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Psychophysical studies have demonstrated that several parameters of visual function deteriorate in the early stages of age‐related maculopathy (ARM). This study was performed to analyze whether the variability in high (HC) and low (LC) ‐contrast visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS) at mesopic light level is attributable to differences in macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in early ARM patients. Methods Measurements were obtained from 40 eyes of adults (65 ± 7 years) with early ARM and 34 age‐matched healthy control eyes (67 ± 6 years). MPOD was estimated at the fovea using the Metropsis Test (Cambridge Research System). Visual acuity (VA) was measured with the best spectacle correction using high‐contrast (96%) and low‐contrast (10%) logMAR letter charts under mesopic luminance conditions (0.1 to 0.2 cd/m2). Mesopic contrast sensitivity (CS) was determined using the Pelli‐Robson chart. Results Foveal MPOD was 0.25 ± 0.14 in eyes without ARM and 0.29 ± 0.22 in eyes with early ARM. Mean mesopic high and low contrast logMAR VA and log CS were significantly worse in the ARM group than in the control group. There was no significant relationship between high HC‐VA and MPOD, LC‐VA and MPOD and between log CS and MPOD in both early ARM and control group. Conclusion No differences in MP optical density were found between eyes with and without early ARM. Mesopic visual function was unrelated to foveal macular pigment optical density in early age‐related maculopathy.