CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DETERMINANTS OF MACULAR CHANGES IN RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA IN UPPER EGYPT

Aim: to explore the clinical characteristics and macular changes of RP in a sample of Upper Egyptian population. Settings and design: descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a university hospital from January 2018 until May 2021. Subjects and Methods: The study included 178 patients with RP. From the patient notes, baseline data was collected including; age, sex, complaint, age of onset, family history and history of medical diseases such as deafness, neurological disorder. The collected data included best corrected visual acuity BCVA, intraocular pressure IOP, corneal topography, and fundus examination by both direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy. Findings of perimetry and macular examination by a spectral domain optical coherence tomography device were also collected. Results: Out of the 178 patients diagnosed with RP and included in the current study; about 53% (n=95) were males and 47% (n=83) were females. The mean age was 28.5 ± 12.3 years. BCVA was found better than 6\12 in 15 (8.4%) patients and worse than 1\60 in 35 (19.7%) patients. Emmetropic refraction (within 0.75 D) was found in 45 (25.3%) patients, myopic refraction was found in 75 (42.1 %) patients. OCT findings included, retinal thinning which was found in 73 (41%), epiretinal membranes in 8 (4.5%), cystoid spaces in 15 (8.4 %) and normal macula in 45 (25.3 %) patients. Conclusion: RP has significant visual disabling effect on Upper Egyptian patients. Screening programs of the affected families should be adopted for early visual rehabilitation