Vision impacts life success

MedPage Today reported that, according to a study published online in Ophthalmology, patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have a 50 percent increased risk of coronary heart disease.



Researchers from the Singapore National Eye Center conducted a population-based cohort study of 1,786 patients who didn't have heart disease and 2,228 patients without stroke at baseline. Patients were between the ages of 69 and 97. The investigators found that those with early macular degeneration had a higher cumulative incidence of heart disease than those without (25.8 percent versus 18.9 percent).

Notably, there was a significantly higher cumulative incidence of heart disease for those with specific signs of early macular degeneration -- soft drusen, hyperpigmentation, and RPE depigmentation

Posted in: Conditions and Diseases, Duke University Health System, Eye Disorders, Heart disease, Macular Degeneration, Retina, Retinal pigment epithelium, singapore