Most older adults willing to play game to monitor vision

(HealthDay)—Many older patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) use personal electronic devices, and most are willing to play a game to monitor vision, according to a study published online Nov. 13 in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.

Hessom Razavi Franzco, M.B.B.S., from the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues conducted a single-center descriptive study involving 140 participants aged over 50 years of age (mean age, 70.5 years) with a diagnosis of intermediate AMD and best-corrected visual acuity of ≥6/12 in each eye. Participants were surveyed with a structured questionnaire.

The researchers found that 83.6 percent of participants used an Amsler grid chart, but only 39.3 percent used it once per week. Overall, 91.4 percent of participants used one or more personal electronic devices; 54.7 percent played games on them, 39 percent of whom played games once a day. Ninety-two percent of participants aged 50 to 69 years were willing to play a game to monitor vision, compared with 78 percent of those aged 70 years and older.

"A large proportion of AMD patients already use personal electronic devices," the authors write. "Gamification techniques are likely to increase compliance with self-monitoring, leading to earlier detection in the next generation of patients with neovascular AMD."

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