Purpose: To determine the visual acuity loss in patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa and its relation to the presence of macular lesions.
Methods: A total of 145 patients were included in the visual acuity analysis, and 139 patients were included in the analysis of their macular status. Patients with a history of parental consanguinity or an affected sister and parents unaffected with retinitis pigmentosa were considered as having an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance.
Results: Regardless of age, 68 patients (47%) had visual acuity of 20/40 or better, 109 (75%) had better than 20/200 in at least 1 eye, and 36 (25%) had an acuity of 20/200 or worse in both eyes. An evaluation of the macular status demonstrated that 55 patients (39.6%) had no macular lesion and 77 (55.4%) had an atrophic lesion (either bull's-eye or geographic). Seventy-five percent of patients with no macular lesion had a visual acuity of 20/40 or better and 34 patients (44%) with an atrophic lesion had a visual acuity better than 20/70.
Conclusion: These data can be useful to counsel patients on the potential visual acuity impairment likely to be observed at different ages and identify the association of visual acuity loss with macular changes.