The percentage of Americans aged 40+ with AMD (age-related macular degeneration) has dropped to 6.5% in 2005-2008 from 9.4% in 1988-1994, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison reported in an article published in Archives of Ophthalmology.

The authors wrote:

“Despite new medical and surgical interventions, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains an important cause of loss of vision in the United States.”

The last data to provide nationally representative AMD rates were in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-1994.

To update these estimates, Ronald Klein, M.D., M.P.H. studied data from the 2005-2008 NHANES. They photographed both eyes of 7,081 people aged 40 years or more. The digital pictures were assessed for AMD signs, including the small yellow or white deposits in the retina (drusen), pigment alterations, and retina and surrounding tissue atrophy.

They worked out that the overall prevalence of AMD among individuals aged at least 40 years was approximately 6.5%, a drop from the 1988-1994 estimate of 9.4%. Late AMD, a more advanced from of the disease affected 0.8% of over 40s. African-American (non-Hispanic) people aged 60 years or more had lower AMD rates compared to non-Hispanic Caucasians of the same age.

The authors concluded:

“These estimates are consistent with a decreasing incidence of AMD reported in another population-based study and have important public health implications. The decreasing prevalence of AMD may reflect recent change in the frequency of smoking and other exposures such as diet, physical activity and blood pressure associated with AMD.

It remains to be seen whether public health programs designed to increase awareness of the relationships of these exposures to AMD in patients at risk and their physicians and eye care providers will continue to result in further decline of the prevalence of AMD in the population.”

Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD is the gradual loss of central vision. The patient finds it harder to see things that are right in front of them, making such tasks as reading, writing, recognizing faces and driving more challenging. The macula, or macula lutea is an oval shaped yellow spot near the center of the retina (in the eye).

Macular degeneration mainly affects older individuals. It is caused by damage to the retina. It is a major cause of partial blindness among older people in North America and Europe, as well as many other parts of the world. In most cases there is enough peripheral vision for the person to go about other activities of daily life.

“Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the US Population”
Ronald Klein, MD, MPH; Chiu-Fang Chou, DrPH; Barbara E. K. Klein, MD, MPH; Xinzhi Zhang, MD, PhD; Stacy M. Meuer, BS; Jinan B. Saaddine, MD, MPH
Arch Ophthalmol. 2011;129(1):75-80. doi:10.1001/archophthalmol.2010.318

Written by Christian Nordqvist