Impact of Reticular Pseudodrusen on Clinical and Ocular Characteristics and Progression Rate of Geographic Atrophy in...

To elucidate the impact of reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) on the clinical and ocular characteristics and progression rate of geographic atrophy (GA) in Japanese patients.

A multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study.

A total of 173 eyes from 173 Japanese patients (135 with conventional GA and 35 with pachychoroid GA) were included; 79 eyes with conventional GA were included in the follow-up group.

Reticular pseudodrusen status, GA type (conventional/pachychoroid), GA location (central/noncentral), GA pattern (unifocal/multifocal), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and fellow-eye status were assessed using multimodal imaging. The GA progression rate was calculated in both mm²/year and mm/year (square root transformation [SQRT]) after semiautomatic measurement of the GA area on fundus autofluorescence images.

Clinical and ocular characteristics and progression rate of GA according to RPD status.

Reticular pseudodrusen were observed in 42.4% (73 eyes) of the 173 study eyes, 54.1% of the eyes with conventional GA, and none of the eyes with pachychoroid GA. Among patients with conventional GA, those with RPD were significantly more female (56.2 vs. 30.6%, P = 0.003), had better visual acuity (0.31 vs. 0.50 in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, P = 0.03), a smaller SFCT (141.7 vs. 185.0 μm, P = 0.02), higher prevalence of noncentral (56.2 vs. 32.3%, P = 0.005) and multifocal GA (68.5 vs. 29.0%, P < 0.001), and bilateral late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (93.1 vs. 65.0%, P < 0.0001) than those without RPD. The GA progression rate was significantly higher in eyes with RPD than in eyes without RPD (0.34 vs. 0.18 mm/year [SQRT], P < 0.001).

Reticular pseudodrusen are frequently observed in Japanese patients with conventional GA. Clinical and ocular characteristics differ according to the RPD status, similarly in White patients. Geographic atrophy in the presence of RPD progresses rapidly, at a rate comparable to that in White patients, and most patients with RPD exhibit bilateral late AMD. Given that RPD in eyes with GA constitutes a strong risk factor for both fast GA progression and bilateral late AMD, GA with RPD should be treated at an early stage prior to foveal involvement, even though GA in Asians has been reported to progress slowly.

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