0266 Actigraphy-Based Measurement of Sleep and Diurnal Rhythms in Subjects with Age-Related Macular Degeneration

• Published in: Sleep (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2019-04, Vol.42 (Supplement_1), p.A109-A109
• Main Authors: Dollish, Hannah K, Figueroa, Anna, Janowski, Ally, Snyder, Robert W, Fernandez, Fabian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Macular degeneration; Retina; Sleep
• ISSN: 0161-8105; 1550-9109
• DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsz067.265

Introduction Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in adults over fifty. This condition damages the macula of the eye, a pigmented area in the central retina bearing rods in the parafovea subregion as well as a dense population of cone photoreceptors within the fovea centralis. While it is known that the macula supplies image-forming data to the visual cortex required for high-level acuity, much less is known about what contributions this region makes to non-image forming functions such as circadian photoentrainment or how macular light input influences the wake/sleep cycle. Such contributions are likely given the interconnections among rods, cones, and intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, which are the conduits for transmitting environmental light information to the pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In the current study, circadian robustness and sleep were quantified in AMD patients using in-home actigraphy. Methods Patients with a diagnosis of intermediate or advanced dry AMD in at least one eye (the other eye could have any stage of AMD) were recruited from an ongoing study in Arizona under the direction of one of the authors (RWS). Each subject was administered a sleep/chronotype survey and given a Spectrum Pro-Plus Actiwatch to wear for 12 consecutive days of recording. Actiware files containing 1440 points of data/24 h were plotted in time series and analyzed using ClockLab or Rstudio for assessment of various sleep metrics and quantitative description of diurnal rhythms. Results These are preliminary results from a small community-dwelling sample (n = 9). Data collection will be completed by Summer 2019. Preliminary findings suggest that people with AMD do not have impairments in the amplitude or consistency of their diurnal activity rhythms as measured by nonparametric rhythm analyses and are capable of maintaining consolidated 16:8 24-h wake/sleep cycles that are consistently phase-aligned from one day to the next. Conclusion AMD patients show no obvious sleep or circadian deficits. Other analyses are forthcoming and will consider the extent and localization of retinal pathology. Support (If Any) UA Office of Research and Discovery