Retina-Vitreous
2007 , Vol 15 , Num 4
Relationship Between Acquired and Personal Risk Factors and Age-Related Macular Degeneration
1İstanbul Bilim Üniv. Avrupa Florance Nighthingale Hastanesi, İstanbul, Asist. Dr.2İstanbul Bilim Üniv. Avrupa Florance Nighthingale Hastanesi, İstanbul, Yard. Doç. Dr.
3İstanbul Bilim Üniv. Avrupa Florance Nighthingale Hastanesi, İstanbul, Prof. Dr. Purpose: To assess the association between diet, smoking, genetic history, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gender, age, stressful work, refractive error, and age-related macular degeneration.
Materials and Methods: Records of 1383 eyes of 778 patients who had age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) according to fundoscopic and FFA examination were investigated retrospectively.
Results: 118 (15.16%) were diabetic, 439 (56.42%) were hypertensive, and 405 (52.05%) were smoking on average one packet a day. Among refractive errors, 410 patients were hypermetropic+astigmatic, 45 were hypermetropic, 191 were myopic+astigmatic, 32 were myopic, 22 were astigmatic, and 72 were emmetropic. When dietary habits were questioned, 505 (64.91%) patients had an antioxidant-poor and animalrich diet. According to genetic history, in 103 (13.24%) patients one or both parents had ARMD. Of our ARMD patients, 434 were female and 344 were male. The age distribution of ARMD patients was as follows: 131 were 50-59, 262 were 60- 69, 328 were 70-79, and 57 were over 80 years. The patients were also asked about their work environment and, according to 547 (70.30%) of them, their occupation was stressful.
Conclusion: In refractive error examinations, 52.7% of patients were hypermetropic+astigmatic. ARMD was significantly associated with hypertension, smoking, and an antioxidantpoor diet compared to the normal population. Diabetes and genetic predisposition were not frequent in our ARMD patients. It was established in our study that ARMD is seen most frequently between the age of 70 and 80. Furthermore, it is more frequent to see ARMD in patients who state that their work environment stress level is 4-5 with respect to our grading system. Keywords : Antioxidant, hypertension, refractive error, age related macula degeneration, cigarette
