Abstract
Purpose: :
To describe the prevalence and incidence of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) in Europe through a systematic literature review.
Methods: :
A literature search was performed using the Medline database (Pub-MED), with key words: ARMD, prevalence, incidence, population-based, cross-sectional studies, epidemiology. Inclusion criteria for the studies were: a) performed on a healthy population of Caucasian origin at an age between 60 and 75 years old, b) ARMD diagnosed by ophthalmological examination with fundus images grading, c) sample size was >1000 and d) published between 1990 and 2008. Special attention was given to studies containing ARMD prevalence and incidence by age and gender. Additionally, a search was made of the articles referenced in the selected articles.
Results: :
Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria (four multicentre European studies, six prevalence studies from Netherlands; Germany; France; UK; European North of Russia; Bulgaria and two incidence studies from Rotterdam and Germany) and were performed between 1990 and 2007. The overall prevalence of ARMD in Europe ranged between 9% and 25%. It was higher in women (1.03 [0.11-1.96]) than in men (0.90 [0-2.08]) at 65-69 years of age, and was increasing with age, with greater increase for women from 1.03 [0.11-1.96] at 65-69 years of age to 2.36 [1.00-3.73] at 70-74 years of age. The prevalence of ARMD varied between 40% in France, 39% in Germany, 36.30% in the Netherlands, 35% in UK, 16,30% in the European North of Russia and 14% in Bulgaria. Incidence of ARMD increased with age from 0 [0-1.0] for the age group 55-64, 10.8 [8.6-13.7] for the age group 65-69 and 19 [15.6-23.2] for population between 70 and 74 years of age. The crude incidence rate of ARMD was 2.0 per 1000 person-years in men and 1.6 per 1000 person-years in women, this difference was not significant when corrected by age (rate ratio, 0.7 [0.4-1.2] (women vs. men)).
Conclusions: :
The age corrected crude incidence rate of ARMD in Europe was not significantly different in men and women. Countries in Western Europe had a higher prevalence of ARMD compared to Eastern Europe and the overall prevalence in Europe.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence • age-related macular degeneration