Evaluating contrast sensitivity in early and intermediate age-related Macular Degeneration with the Quick Contrast Sensitivity Function

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe, validate, and compare the contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs) acquired with the novel quick CSF (qCSF) method from patients with early and intermediate age-related macular degeneration (eAMD and iAMD) and healthy controls. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of contrast sensitivity (CS) and visual acuity (VA) baseline data from the prospective Multimodal Functional and Structural Visual System Characterization (MUMOVI) study. The qCSF testing was conducted with the manifold contrast vision meter (Adaptive Sensory Technology, San Diego, CA, USA). CS levels at spatial frequencies from 1 cycle per degree (CPD) to 18 CPD, the area underneath the logarithmic contrast sensitivity function (AULCSF), and contrast acuity (CA) were analyzed. The association of functional metrics with variables of interest was tested with linear models. Results: Ninety-four study eyes from 94 study patients were included in the analysis (13 patients with eAMD, 33 patients with iAMD, and 48 healthy controls). Significant differences between the eAMD and the iAMD model estimates were only found for CS at 1 CPD (t value = −2.9, P value = 0.006) and CS at 1.5 CPD (−2.7, 0.01). A specific association between smoking years and CS at 1 CPD (P = 0.02) and CS at 1.5 CPD (P = 0.03) could be described in patients with AMD. Conclusions: The qCSF testing allows the fast measurement of the whole CSF, enabling the integration into clinical routine. We showed that novel qCSF-derived metrics detect slight functional differences between AMD stages, which testing by Pelli-Robson charts or VA testing would miss. This study, therefore, yields novel qCSF-derived candidate metrics for therapeutic trials in AMD.