| Characteristic | CAR | MAR | npAIR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age at onset | Mean age for paraneoplastic AIR (CAR/MAR combined) is ~55 years, range 18–88; CAR patients tend to be older than npAIR patients (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000008) | Typically middle-aged to older adults, often 40–70 years (pqac-00000008) | Younger than paraneoplastic AIR on average; reported mean 47–55.9 years, median 47 years, range 11–88 (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000008) |
| Sex predilection | Female predominance overall in AIR/paraneoplastic cohorts, though CAR can affect both sexes (pqac-00000003) | Slight male predominance reported, consistent with melanoma demographics (pqac-00000008) | Predominantly female; 62.5%–79.2% female in reported series (pqac-00000003) |
| Associated conditions | Systemic malignancy, especially lung cancer, breast cancer, gynecologic malignancy, hematologic malignancy, and other solid tumors (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000001) | Cutaneous or metastatic melanoma; may signal immune response to metastasis (pqac-00000000, pqac-00000010) | No malignancy; often associated with personal/family autoimmune history, especially thyroid disease/hypothyroidism and other autoimmune disorders (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000009) |
| Primary symptoms | Progressive, painless, bilateral or asymmetric vision loss; photosensitivity, glare, flickering/shimmering lights, central scotoma, night blindness, impaired dark adaptation, peripheral field defects (pqac-00000008) | Night blindness, photopsia, visual field defects; central/paracentral scotomas common, VA often relatively preserved early (pqac-00000008) | Gradual or subacute painless bilateral vision loss with photopsias and scotomas; may show visual field loss and color vision impairment (pqac-00000005, pqac-00000008) |
| Photoreceptor involvement | Often cone-predominant or mixed cone-rod dysfunction; simultaneous rod and cone involvement common, especially with anti-recoverin antibodies (pqac-00000008) | Classically ON-bipolar cell dysfunction rather than primary photoreceptor loss, though broader retinal dysfunction may occur (pqac-00000004, pqac-00000008) | Variable cone, rod, or mixed photoreceptor dysfunction; progressive outer retinal degeneration is typical (pqac-00000002, pqac-00000008) |
| Fundus findings | Often initially normal despite severe symptoms; later retinal arteriole attenuation, waxy optic disc pallor, RPE changes; occasional iritis/vitritis (pqac-00000008, pqac-00000010) | Fundus may be normal or show optic disc pallor, vascular attenuation, RPE change, and vitreous cells/inflammation (pqac-00000008, pqac-00000010) | Fundus may be normal early; can develop diffuse pigmentary retinopathy, retinal atrophy, RPE change, disc pallor, and hypo/hyper-autofluorescent abnormalities (pqac-00000002, pqac-00000010) |
| ERG findings | Abnormal ERG is a core diagnostic feature; mixed cone/rod and isolated rod responses may be markedly attenuated (pqac-00000010, pqac-00000009) | Typically electronegative ERG/ON-bipolar dysfunction pattern; negative ERG is characteristic of MAR (pqac-00000004) | Abnormal ERG required/supportive for diagnosis; rod and cone dysfunction common, often reduced responses on full-field ERG (pqac-00000002, pqac-00000009) |
| Common antibodies | Anti-recoverin, anti-α-enolase, anti-CAII, anti-transducin; anti-recoverin is the classic CAR antibody (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000004) | Anti-TRPM1 is the best-characterized MAR antibody; anti-transducin also reported (pqac-00000004) | Anti-recoverin, anti-α-enolase, anti-CAII, anti-arrestin, anti-IRBP, anti-TULP1, anti-TRPM1 and others; serology is heterogeneous (pqac-00000004, pqac-00000005) |
| Prognosis | Often poor visual prognosis; can progress to blindness over days to years; 49.1% worsened in a recent paraneoplastic ocular syndrome review, but early oncologic diagnosis (<6 months) improved outcomes (pqac-00000001, pqac-00000010) | Variable; limited follow-up suggests ~half have unilateral or bilateral moderate-to-severe vision loss at last follow-up (pqac-00000008) | Variable and heterogeneous; may stabilize or improve with immunosuppression, but chronic progressive loss and CME-associated worse outcomes are recognized (pqac-00000008, pqac-00000011) |


*Table: This table compares the three principal autoimmune retinopathy subtypes across demographics, associated conditions, symptoms, retinal physiology, antibodies, and prognosis. It is useful for quickly distinguishing paraneoplastic from non-paraneoplastic disease patterns.*