Abstract
Purpose::
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) is a degenerative disease of the macula which shares risk factors that are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, no data exist to determine if ARMD is a marker for CAD. Therefore, we sought to determine the association between severe ARMD and CAD in a cohort of patients.
Methods::
This was a retrospective, case-controlled study of 65 patients with advanced ARMD. Chart-identified, CAD risk factors including age, gender, HTN, hyperlipidemia, smoking, diabetes mellitus and ethnicity were determined for each patient. The main outcome of interest was the presence or absence of CAD defined as a history of myocardial infarction or findings suggestive of myocardial scar or ischemia on diagnostic studies (myocardial perfusion imaging, echocardiogram or angiogram). Sixty five patients with cataract served as the age-matched control group
Results::
Mean patient age was 78.9±6.9 yrs and 78.6±6.8 yrs in the ARMD and control groups, respectively. Ninety eight percent of patients in each group were male. The prevalence of diabetes and HTN were similar in the two groups. The unadjusted prevalence of CAD was 37 % in ARMD vs. 29 % in the control group (p=0.351). A logistic regression model was used to adjust for the demographic and clinical variables including CAD risk factors. After adjustment, there was no statistical difference in the prevalence of CAD between the two groups (p value 0.347 to 0.799).
Conclusions::
Our study demonstrates that patients with ARMD have a high rate of CAD. Even though the results did not reach statistical significance, they suggest that ARMD may be associated with CAD. Further prospective studies are needed to examine the association between CAD and ARMD as this may impact guidelines related to screening patients with ARMD for the presence of CAD
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment