Are lung disease and function related to age-related macular degeneration?

PURPOSE: To describe the relationship of lung disease and function with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a population-based study.

DESIGN: A population-based, cross-sectional study of 12,596 middle-aged participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

METHODS: Lung function was assessed by spirometry. Physician diagnosis of asthma and lung disease was ascertained from a standardized questionnaire. AMD signs were graded from fundus photographs according to the Wisconsin grading protocol.

RESULTS: Among the study population, 587 (4.7%) had early AMD, 638 (5.1%) had asthma, and 581 (4.6%) had lung disease. After adjusting for age, gender, smoking, and hypertension, each 1-L increase in predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89 to 1.80), forced vital capacity (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.51), and peak expiratory flow rate (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.33) were not significantly associated with early AMD. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second-to-forced vital capacity ratio (second quartile OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 0.88 to 2.93, third quartile OR, 1.65; 95% CI 0.90 to 3.03; fourth quartile OR, 1.28; 95% CI 0.68 to 2.40) was not associated significantly with early AMD. Similarly, asthma (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.27) and other lung diseases (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.29) were not associated with early AMD.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data do not support a cross-sectional association between lung disease and risk of early AMD.