Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Age-related Macular Degeneration: The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study

• Published in: American journal of ophthalmology Vol. 145; no. 2; pp. 308 - 316
• Main Authors: Fraser-Bell, Samantha, Wu, Joanne, Klein, Ronald, Azen, Stanley P, Hooper, Claire, Foong, Athena W.P, Varma, Rohit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.02.2008; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Atherosclerosis; Automation; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Pressure; Body Mass Index; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular Diseases - blood; Cardiovascular Diseases - ethnology; Cardiovascular Diseases - physiopathology; Confidence intervals; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Diabetes Complications - ethnology; Diabetic retinopathy; Female; Gender; Glucose; Heart attacks; Hispanic Americans - ethnology; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - ethnology; Intraocular Pressure; Los Angeles - epidemiology; Macular degeneration; Macular Degeneration - blood; Macular Degeneration - ethnology; Macular Degeneration - physiopathology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Odds Ratio; Older people; Ophthalmology; Pathogenesis; Prevalence; Quality control; Retinopathies; Risk Factors; Smoking - ethnology; Stroke; Los Angeles; Los Angeles California; California; Macular degeneration; Eye; Eye disease; Retinopathy; Risk factor; Cardiovascular risk; Cardiovascular disease; Age related macular degeneration; Ophthalmology
• ISSN: 0002-9394; 1879-1891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2007.10.007

Purpose To assess the association of cardiovascular risk factors and ocular perfusion pressure with early and advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Latinos. Design Population-based, cross-sectional study. Methods Data were collected from a population-based sample of self-identified adult Latinos using standardized protocols for assessing blood pressure and intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement and stereoscopic macular photography. Hypertension was defined as either a history of hypertension or systolic blood pressure (SBP) > 140 mm Hg ± diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 85 mm Hg. Ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) was defined as the difference between mean arterial blood pressure and IOP. AMD was diagnosed from photographic grading by masked trained graders. Logistic regression was used to assess associations. Results Gradable retinal photographs were available in 5,875 participants. After adjusting for age, gender, and cigarette smoking, higher DBP and uncontrolled diastolic hypertension were associated with exudative AMD (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 2.8; and OR, 3.3; CI, 1.2 to 9.3, respectively). Higher OPP was associated with a decreased risk of geographic atrophy (GA) (OR, 0.4 per 10 mm Hg; CI, 0.3 to 0.5). Low pulse pressure was associated with a lower risk of exudative AMD (OR, 0.2; CI, 0.1 to 0.6). Obesity was associated with increased retinal pigment (OR, 1.6; CI, 1.0 to 2.3). Conclusions These data suggest that in Latinos cardiovascular risk factors may play a role in advanced AMD. Given that Latinos have a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, an intervention aimed at reducing these risk factors may also have a beneficial impact on the risk of having early and advanced AMD.