The purpose of this study is to identify whether changes in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) over time as seen with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) imaging, can be used to predict vision loss and the advancement of AMD in people at moderate to high risk for progression.

The primary objective of this study is to identify whether SDOCT patterns such as: drusen size, OCT reflectivity within drusen, photoreceptor (PR)change over drusen, microfoci of subretinal fluid (SRF), or retinal thickening are predictive of vision loss, progression of drusen, progression of photoreceptor loss over drusen, development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV), or development of geographic atrophy (GA).

The secondary objectives of this study are:

1. To define the relationship between SDOCT imaging, autofluorescence (AF)imaging, and color photographic or other fundus imaging of AREDS 2 patients in both a cross-sectional study of baseline data and a longitudinal study in data collected over the 5 year AREDS 2 study.
2. To compare the extent of geographic atrophy on SDOCT versus color photographs and autofluorescence.
3. To evaluate whether the SDOCT outcome measures differ significantly between AREDS 2 patients randomized to different oral supplements in the AREDS2.

Inclusion Criteria:

AMD subjects and controls

• Men and women between the ages of 50 and 85 years

AMD subjects

• Enrollment in the AREDS 2 trial;
• Macular status ranges from large drusen in both eyes or large drusen in one eye and advanced AMD (neovascular AMD or geographic atrophy) in the fellow eye

Exclusion Criteria:

• Ocular media not clear enough to allow good fundus photography.

The A2A SDOCT study will recruit AMD subjects from the AREDS 2 study population at 4 AREDS 2 Study Centers. Controls will be recruited from Duke University Eye Center and Emory University.

All findings resulting from the A2A SDOCT study will be prepared for publication in peer-reviewed journals and posted on PubMed Central once accepted.

We are supportive of efforts by publishers and professional societies to develop technologies for on-line publishing of entire experimental datasets. We will archive experimental results and findings from the proposed project for at least the duration of the project, and make the underlying datasets available to other researchers upon request.