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I found an article in the American Journal of Translational Research about the correlation between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cognitive impairment. In the study, they investigated the change of blood flow among the different layers of the retina with AMD and its influence with patients’ cognition. There were two tools implemented in this study, one being an optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to study the blood flow of the retina in patients with AMD and the healthy controls. The second tool is known as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
Age-related macular degeneration is defined as irreversible and severe central vision loss; it is one of the leading causes of blindness among the elderly (Qiu et al., 2021). It disables individuals from reading, driving, and living. The purpose of this study was to see if AMD is a hallmark sign of the development of cognitive impairment. According to the study, 30 cataract patients who had one healthy eye (which were used as healthy controls) were selected. These individuals were similar in age, visual acuity, and intraocular pressure.
I used a diagram provided by the Translational Research Institute to determine what type of translational research was used for this study. Since a control was established, this translational research falls between Phase 2 and 3 because controlled studies lead to effective care (Translational Research Institute, 2022). This is the best phase of translational research for this study because it includes health services studies such as utilizing OCTA and MoCA with a healthy eye serving as the control (Translational Cancer Research Network, 2018). Because of the phase of this study, proving that patients with age-related macular degeneration may have a greater change suffering from cognitive impairment, it helps us interfere with the disease in an early stage to improve quality of life (Qiu et al., 2021).
Reference
Qiu, Y., Sun, T., Xu, F., Gao, P., Tang, G., & Peng, Q. (2021, January 15). Correlation of vascular change and cognitive impairment in age-related macular degeneration patients. American Journal of Translational Research, 13(1), 336-348.
Translational Cancer Research Network. (2018, January 16). Translational research – Defining the “Ts” http://www.tcrn.unsw.edu.au/translational-research-definitions
Translational Research Institute. (2022). What is translational research? https://tri.uams.edu/about-tri/what-is-translational-research/
