Visual outcomes & quality of life in CMV retinitis

本申请提出了培养Jennifer E. Thorne医学博士成为独立临床科学家、流行病学研究方法和临床试验设计专家的培训计划。自2001年12月起，他将成为一名董事会认证的眼科医生，接受过葡萄膜炎和眼免疫学的亚专业培训。约翰霍普金斯大学非常适合作为她的训练地点。培训计划将包括指导的研究经验，多学科会议，以及导致流行病学博士学位的课程。受指导的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，该小组由主要导师Curtis Meinert博士（SOCA协调中心主任）和共同导师Douglas a . Jabs医学博士（SOCA主席）领导。索恩博士将全面参与SOCA协调中心的活动，我们将在视觉结果和生活质量（QOL）方面发挥主导作用，高级眼科流行病学家希拉·韦斯特博士将担任该项目的顾问。巨细胞病毒（CMV）视网膜炎并发艾滋病与视力、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，旨在对艾滋病和巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎患者进行为期五年的随访。自从高效抗逆转录病毒疗法（HAART）出现以来，艾滋病和巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎的流行病学正在迅速发展。LSOCA旨在确定巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎的发病率，以及在HAART时代使患者患巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎风险增加的因素和艾滋病相关眼病的后遗症。由于巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎的治疗是由维持和/或改善视觉功能和生活质量驱动的，因此对这些结果的评估将在解释研究结果中发挥主要作用。这些部分研究的主要目的是量化巨细胞病毒性视网膜炎患者随时间的视力丧失，确定使这些患者处于视力不良高风险的特征，并评估HAART如何影响这些患者的视力功能和生活质量。

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.