Visual outcomes & quality of life in CMV retinitis

本申请提出了一个培训计划，以发展詹妮弗E。索恩，医学博士，成为一个独立的临床科学家，并在流行病学研究方法和临床试验设计的专家。截至2001年12月，索恩博士将是一个委员会认证的眼科医生与亚专业培训葡萄膜炎和眼部免疫学。约翰霍普金斯大学非常适合作为她的培训地点。培训计划将包括指导研究经验，多学科会议，并导致流行病学博士学位的课程。作为艾滋病眼部并发症研究（SOCA）研究小组的成员，将在主要导师Curtis Meinert博士的指导下进行指导研究，SOCA协调中心主任和共同导师道格拉斯A。刺拳医学博士SOCA主席Thorne博士将参加SOCA协调中心的全方位活动，我们将在视觉结果和生活质量（QOL）方面发挥主导作用，Sheila West博士，一位资深眼科流行病学家将担任该项目的顾问。艾滋病并发巨细胞病毒视网膜炎与视力、视野和生活质量下降有关。LSOCA是一项多中心前瞻性队列研究，旨在随访AIDS和CMV视网膜炎患者超过5年。自从高效抗逆转录病毒疗法（HAART）出现以来，艾滋病和CMV视网膜炎的流行病学正在迅速发展。LSOCA旨在确定CMV视网膜炎的发病率，使患者发生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QOL来驱动的，因此这些结果的评估将在解释研究结果中发挥重要作用。本研究这些部分的主要目的是量化CMV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结局高风险的特征，并评估HAART如何影响这些患者的视功能和QOL结局。

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.