Abstract
Purpose:
As the leading cause of blindness in industrialized countries, AMD is an increasing public health problem. So, enabling early identification of this multifactorial disease is important to provide prevention or treatment. The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of AMD in the North of France by a mass screening facility with telemedicine, and to look into associated ocular diseases in this elderly population.
Methods:
An epidemiological study was performed in the North French department for a period of 6 months. Fundus photographs of both eyes were taken with a non-mydriatic retinal camera in a population aged 65 years and older with no known history of AMD. Images were analyzed by two independent readers in the Ophthalmology Department of University Hospital of Lille for grading pictures along to the AREDS classification, and to identify potential associated ocular diseases.
Results:
Photographs from 2,240 eyes of 1,130 participants, 396 men (35%) and 734 women (65%), were analyzed. The average age in the cohort was 75 years. 12% of pictures were ungradable. 68.93 % of patients were assessed in category 1 of the AREDS classification, 10.71 % in category 2, 3.84 % in category 3, and 4.46 % in category 4 (exudative or atrophic), respectively. An associated ocular disease was found in a high proportion of participants (hazed media: 29.06 %; epiretinal membrane: 8.26 %; glaucoma: 1.38 %).
Conclusions:
The prevalence of AMD is found similar than in the EUREYE epidemiological study (8% of AMD after 50 years old, more than 30% after 75 years old). In the same way, the rate of epiretinal membranes, another retinal disease associated with the ageing process, is comparable to the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study results (8,9% in an older population of European origin). In our cohort, the overall prevalence of AMD is 19% in the population over 65 years old. Nonmydriatic fundus photography is a simple, fast, non-invasive and reliable AMD-detecting technique that can be performed by nonphysicians then teletransfered to an ophthalmologist for reading.
Keywords: 412 age-related macular degeneration •
463 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence