Outcome measures in juvenile X-linked retinoschisis: a systematic review

X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) is a leading cause of hereditary juvenile macular degeneration in males resulting in significant vision impairment. Outcome measures to monitor disease progression or therapeutic interventions have evolved with technology. A systematic review was undertaken to evaluate outcome measures for XLRS. Inclusion criteria were all publications examining outcome measures for natural history studies or following an interventional approach for patients with XLRS. Studies which did not present follow-up data were excluded. We searched medical databases including CENTRAL, Ovid Medline, pre-Medline and ahead of Print up to February 2019. Two authors independently assessed the risk of bias. Twelve studies meet the inclusion criteria with four prospective and eight retrospective case series. Five series were natural history observational studies and seven were interventional series using either topical or systemic carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. Visual acuity (VA) declined very slowly in the natural history studies equivalent to 0.22–0.5 letters per year. Five of the six interventional studies showed an improvement in VA and four a reduction in spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) parameters for central macular thickness (CMT). The full-field electroretinogram identified the 30-Hz latency as a further parameter to monitor function. VA was the measure most likely to show a statistically significant outcome. How functionally meaningful this is, requires further evaluation. CMT SD-OCT outcomes are variable depending on cystic changes. More refined measures are required to better correlate structure with function.