Field of vision data helping to track health outcomes
Key Takeaways
- Researchers have built a new database that includes visual field test results, patient demographics, pre-existing conditions, and other data.
- The database has been linked to other data to investigate how disease and health affects field of vision disorders as well as for research into how likely people with vision loss are to fall and injure themselves or crash their car.
Researchers at The University of Western Australia have designed a new method to extract data on a large scale to assess and track changes in people’s field of vision. In a study published in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology, researchers collected data from more than 600,000 visual field tests from 92,000 individuals who attended an ophthalmologist or public hospital eye clinic in Western Australia between 1988 and 2022. The data, which included patient demographics, sensitivity readings and test parameters, was then collated into a single dataset.
“This new single database set is highly representative of the population over a long period of time,” said first author Dr. Siobhan Manners, from UWA’s School of Population and Global Health and the Western Australian Center for Road Safety Research. “It helps fill a gap in population studies and includes analysis of visual field loss and progression that incorporates factors such as socioeconomic status and pre-existing health conditions.”
“The new dataset has been linked to other data to investigate how disease and health affects field of vision disorders,” Dr. Manners said. “It has also been used for research into how likely people with vision loss will fall and injure themselves and how likely they are to crash their car.”
Analysis of visual field defects and loss can provide a quick and cost-effective way of detecting and monitoring disease. Tools such as this data could also help triage an aging population and provide prognostic information.
Edited by Miriam Kaplan, PhD
Source:
University of Western Australia, Medical Xpress, August 5, 2024; see source article