Publications by authors named "Bethany E Higgins"
Purpose: Mutations affecting the CRB1 gene can result in a range of retinal phenotypes, including early onset severe retinal dystrophy/Leber congenital amaurosis (EOSRD/LCA), retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod dystrophy (CORD), and macular dystrophy (MD). As research into treatment strategies advances towards clinical translation, there is a need to establish reliable outcome metrics. This study explores the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) across different spatial frequencies in individuals with CRB1-retinopathies using the child-friendly PopCSF test, an iPad-based "gamified" assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTopic: Assessing reporting standards in glaucoma studies utilizing electronic health records (EHR).
Clinical Relevance: Glaucoma's significance, underscored by its status as a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, necessitates reliable research findings. This study evaluates adherence to the CODE-EHR best-practice framework in glaucoma studies using EHR, aiming to improve clinical care and patient outcomes.
Purpose: This study aims to determine whether OCT-derived rates of change in minimum rim width (MRW) are associated with and can potentially predict corresponding alterations in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) in people with glaucoma.
Methods: The rates of change between six-monthly visits were taken from 568 eyes of 278 participants in the P3 Study. Structural equation models (SEM) assessed whether one parameter was predicted by the concurrent or previous rate of the other parameter, after adjusting for its own rate in the previous time interval.
Purpose: This study investigates the temporal relationship between blood flow changes and alterations in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) and mean deviation (MD) in individuals with glaucoma.
Methods: Blood flow, measured by mean blur rate in optic nerve head vessels (MBRv) and tissues (MBRt) using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG)-NAVI, was analyzed using structural equation models (SEMs). SEMs assessed whether the previous rate of one parameter predicted the current rate of the other parameter, adjusted for its own rate in the previous time interval.
The gene plays a role in retinal development and its maintenance. When disrupted, it gives a range of phenotypes such as early-onset severe retinal dystrophy/Leber congenital amaurosis (EOSRD/LCA), retinitis pigmentosa (RP), cone-rod dystrophy (CORD) and macular dystrophy (MD). Studies in retinopathies have shown thickening and coarse lamination of retinal layers resembling an immature retina.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this study was to assess test-retest variability and discriminatory power of measures from macular integrity assessment (S-MAIA) and AdaptDx.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 167 people with intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD), no AMD (controls; n = 54), early AMD (n = 28), and late AMD (n = 41), recruited across 18 European ophthalmology centers. Repeat measures of mesopic and scotopic S-MAIA average (mean) threshold (MMAT decibels [dB] and SMAT [dB]) and rod intercept time (RIT [mins]) at 2 visits 14 (±7) days apart were recorded.
Purpose: To assess the differences in rod-mediated dark adaptation (RMDA) between different grades of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) severity using an OCT-based criterion compared with those of AMD severity using the Beckman color fundus photography (CFP)-based classification and to assess the association between the presence of subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs) and RMDA at different grades of AMD severity using an OCT-based classification.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Participants: Participants from the Northern Ireland Sensory Ageing study (Queen's University Belfast).
Importance: There is a need for validated clinical end points that are reliably able to quantify potential therapeutic effects of future treatments targeting age-related macular degeneration (AMD) before the onset of serious visual impairment.
Objective: To assess the reliability and discriminatory power of 5 simple chart-based visual function (VF) tests as potential measures for clinical trial end points with regulatory and patient-access intention in intermediate AMD (iAMD).
Design, Setting, And Participants: This international noninterventional study took place at 18 tertiary ophthalmology departments across Europe.
In age-related macular degeneration (AMD) research, dark adaptation has been found to be a promising functional measurement. In more severe cases of AMD, dark adaptation cannot always be recorded within a maximum allowed time for the test (~ 20-30 min). These data are recorded either as censored data-points (data capped at the maximum test time) or as an estimated recovery time based on the trend observed from the data recorded within the maximum recording time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To provide structural and functional evidence of inner retinal loss in diabetes prior to vascular changes and interpret the structure-function relationship in the context of an established neural model.
Methods: Data from one eye of 505 participants (134 with diabetes and no clinically evident vascular alterations of the retina) were included in this analysis. The data were collected as part of a large population-based study.
Introduction: Dark adaptation (DA) has been proposed as a possible functional biomarker for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In this systematic review we aim to evaluate current methodology used to assess DA in people with AMD, the evidence of precision in detecting the onset and progression of AMD, and the relationship between DA and other functional and structural measures.
Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES were searched for studies published between January 2006 and January 2020 that assessed DA in people with AMD.
Purpose: To test the effect of different dark adaptation conditions and reliability indices on the variability of two color scotopic microperimetry.
Methods: We analyzed data from 22 consecutive visually healthy adults. Scotopic microperimetry was performed (Macular Integrity Assessment microperimeter, CenterVue, Padua, Italy) with two wavelength stimuli, cyan (505 nm) and red (627 nm), after a dark adaptation time of 10, 20, or 30 minutes.
Purpose: To investigate the structure-function relationship in eyes with drusen with mesopic and scotopic microperimetry.
Methods: We analyzed structural and functional data from 43 eyes with drusen. Functional data were acquired with mesopic and scotopic two-color (red and cyan) microperimetry.
Purpose: To test the hypothesis that the performance in novel computer-based tasks of everyday visual function worsens with disease severity in people with non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Methods: Participants with and without non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration (≥60 years, minimum logMAR binocular visual acuity 0.7) performed a series of standard visual function tests and two novel computer-based tasks.