Visual outcomes & quality of life in CMV retinitis

本申请提出了一项培训计划，旨在将医学博士詹妮弗·E·索恩培养成独立的临床科学家，以及流行病学研究方法和临床试验设计方面的专家。从2001年12月起，索恩博士将成为一名获得董事会认证的眼科医生，接受葡萄膜炎和眼免疫学方面的专科培训。约翰霍普金斯大学非常适合作为她的训练场。培训计划将包括指导研究经验、多学科会议和获得流行病学博士学位的课程。指导研究将作为艾滋病眼部并发症研究(SOCA)研究小组的成员进行，主要导师是SOCA协调中心主任柯蒂斯·梅内特博士和共同导师道格拉斯·A·贾布斯，医学博士，SOCA主席。索恩博士将参与SOCA协调中心的全方位活动，我们还将在视觉结果和生活质量(QOL)方面发挥领导作用，资深眼科流行病学家Sheila West博士将担任该项目的顾问。巨细胞病毒(CMV)视网膜炎合并艾滋病与视力、视野和生活质量(QOL)下降有关。LSOCA是一项多中心前瞻性队列研究，旨在对艾滋病和CMV视网膜炎患者进行为期五年的跟踪调查。自从高效抗逆转录病毒疗法(HAART)问世以来，艾滋病和巨细胞病毒视网膜炎的流行病学正在迅速演变。LSOCA试图定义CMV视网膜炎的发病率，将患者置于发展CMV视网膜炎的风险增加的因素，以及HAART时代艾滋病相关眼病的后遗症。由于CMV视网膜炎的治疗是通过维持和/或改善视觉功能和生活质量来推动的，因此对这些结果的评估将在解释研究结果方面发挥重要作用。这项研究的这些部分的主要目标是量化CMV视网膜炎患者随着时间的推移而造成的视力损失，确定使这些患者面临视觉结果不良的高风险的特征，并评估HAART可能如何影响这些患者的视觉功能和生活质量结果。

This application proposes a training plan to develop Jennifer E. Thorne, MD, into a independent clinical scientists , and expert in epidemiologic research methods and clinical trial design. As of December 2001, Dr. Thorne will be a board-certified ophthalmologist with subspecialty training in uveitis and ocular immunology. The Johns Hopkins University is well-suited is well-suited to serve as her training site. The training program will consist of mentored research experience, multi- disciplinary conferences, and courses leading to a PhD in Epidemiology. Mentored research will be conducted as a member of the Studies of Ocular Complications of AIDS (SOCA) Research Group under primary mentor Curtis Meinert, Ph.D., Director of the SOCA Coordinating Center, and co-mentor Douglas A. Jabs, M.D., SOCA Chair. Dr. Thorne will take part in the full spectrum of SOCA Coordinating Center activities, we well as assuming a leading role on the visual outcomes and quality of life (QOL) and Sheila West, Ph.D., a senior ophthalmic epidemiologist, will serve as consultants for this project. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis complicating AIDS is associated with reduced visual acuity, visual field and quality of life (QOL). LSOCA is a multi-centered prospective cohort study designed to follow patients with AIDS and CMV retinitis over a five year period. Since the advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the epidemiology of AIDS and CMV retinitis is rapidly evolving. LSOCA seeks to define the incidence of CMV retinitis, the factors that place patients at increased risk for developing CMV retinitis and the sequelae of AIDS-related eye disease in the HAART era. Since therapy for CMV retinitis is driven by maintaining and/or improving visual function and QOL, assessment of these outcomes will play a major role in interpreting the study's results. The primary goals of these sections of the study are to quantify visual loss over time in patients with CMV retinitis, to determine the characteristics that put these patients at high risk for poor visual outcomes, and to evaluate how HAART may affect visual function and QOL outcomes in these patients.