The reason we know that ForeseeHome is so effective at detecting the onset of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) while the visual acuity (VA) is still good, is that it has been demonstrated and proven in earlier as well as recent studies. The first of these is the HOME (HOme Monitoring of the Eye) Study which was done by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) years ago. This study was done as part of the NEI study on multivitamins and zinc (AREDS2) and was published in 2014 as the initial study showing the benefit of ForeseeHome monitoring.
In the HOME Study two groups were compared, both of which comprised of patients with intermediate AMD (iAMD) who were being monitored for the development of wet AMD by their doctors. One group (the control group) was monitored for the development of wet disease with standard care, while the other group was monitored with ForeseeHome added to standard care. Standard care consisted of specific instructions provided by the doctor for self-monitoring at home, such as with an Amsler grid, regularly scheduled visits to the doctor’s office, and coming into the doctor’s office with any change in vision. This was a large 3-year study with 1,520 patients who were an average age of 72.5 years old.
The HOME Study found that ForeseeHome along with standard care was significantly more effective than standard care alone. In fact, it was so effective that the committee that monitors such studies stopped the study early so that the group not using ForeseeHome could start using it. They determined that it would be unethical to keep ForeseeHome monitoring from the control group. The primary finding in the HOME Study was that 91% of the patients in the ForeseeHome group had 20/40 or better visual acuity at the time of detection of wet AMD compared to 62% of patients in the control group (see figure below). Statistically, this is a huge difference.
Participants in the HOME Study tested an average of 4.4 times per week. The reason we at the Notal Vision Monitoring Center encourage frequent testing with ForeseeHome, up to once a day, is that the computer algorithm used to detect a conversion does not rely on just your last test; it also looks at the baseline and many of the previous tests you have done, up to 60 days, if you have tested that long. Thus, if there are long intervals when you don’t test and a conversion to wet AMD occurs in that interval, the conversion will not be detected. This is important because we know that the longer you go without detection and treatment after a conversion, the worse the vision will be. Although modern treatment for wet AMD is excellent, the better your vision is at the start of treatment will determine how good your long-term vision will be after treatment.
In the next newsletter we will discuss another study showing the benefits of ForeseeHome monitoring.
