Reading Performances in Highly Myopic Patients and Correlation with the Topography of Atrophic Maculopathy.

Purpose: To evaluate how the topography of atrophic patches influences monocular and binocular reading performances in eyes with pathologic myopia.

Design: Prospective single-center observational investigation.

Participants: Sixty-two patients (112 eyes) affected by pathologic myopia (axial length [AXL] >26.5 mm). Only college graduates aged <65 years were selected.

Methods: All patients underwent monocular and binocular reading evaluation using Colenbrander Reading Charts, taking into account the reading time and missed words/errors. Moreover, eyes underwent fundus photography and autofluorescence: the presence of chorioretinal atrophy within the central, 4 inner, and 4 outer ETDRS grid subfields was reviewed.

Main Outcome Measures: Reading acuity (logarithm of the reading acuity determination [logRAD]); reading speed (words per minute [wpm]); percentage of errors/missed word; correlation with ETDRS subfield atrophy localization.

Results: Mean AXL was 31.45 ± 2.21 mm. Monocularly, mean reading acuity was 0.37 ± 0.35 logRAD with an 8% ± 11% rate of missed or wrong words, whereas reading speed was 71.5 ± 27.8 wpm (range 25-125 wpm). Binocularly, mean reading acuity was 0.16 ± 0.16 logRAD with 5% ± 7% of missed or wrong words, whereas reading speed was 88.2 ± 18.0 wpm. Reading acuity was significantly associated with the presence of chorioretinal atrophy in the foveal central circle in univariate and multivariate analysis ( = 0.002). Conversely, reading speed negatively correlated with inner right subfield involvement in multivariate analysis ( = 0.008). Binocularly, reading acuity was associated with the presence of bilateral central atrophy ( = 0.001), whereas reading speed was associated with the presence of chorioretinal atrophy in the inner subfields on the horizontal plane in both eyes: bilateral inner right ( = 0.007) or inner left ( = 0.014) subfields; inner left OD (right eye)-inner right OS (left eye) ( = 0.002); inner right OD-inner left OS ( = 0.004).

Conclusions: In highly myopic eyes, we reported a significant relationship between the topography of patchy chorioretinal atrophy and reading performance.

Financial Disclosures: The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.