 Regular Aspirin Linked To Age-Related Macular Degeneration RiskMain Category: Eye Health / BlindnessAlso Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology Article Date: 22 Jan 2013 People who take aspirin regularly over the long-term have a higher risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the main cause of blindness among seniors, researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. Aspirin is commonly taken by patients to protect from cardiovascular disease, including ischemic stroke and heart attack (myocardial infarction). It is one of the most widely used drugs worldwide. A recent study pointed towards a link between AMD and regular aspirin usage, especially the more visually damaging neovascular (wet) form. However, other studies have come out with conflicting findings. As background information, the authors added that smoking is also a major preventable risk factor for AMD. Gerald Liew, Ph.D. and team set out to determine whether regular aspirin use was linked to a greater risk of developing AMD. They carried out a prospective analysis of information from an Australian study which examined 2,389 participants over a fifteen year period. 10.8% (257 individuals) of them were regular aspirin users. Fifteen years later, after follow-up, the team found that 63 of the study group had developed incident neovascular AMD. The researchers wrote: "The cumulative incidence of neovascular AMD among nonregular aspirin users was 0.8 percent at five years, 1.6 percent at 10 years, and 3.7 percent at 15 years; among regular aspirin users, the cumulative incidence was 1.9 percent at five years, 7 percent at 10 years and 9.3 percent at 15 years, respectively. Regular aspirin use was significantly associated with an increased incidence of neovascular AMD." Any decisions on whether to carry on or stop aspirin therapy have to be made on an individual basis, the authors emphasized. There is not enough clinical evidence to advise doctors to change clinical practice, they added. Perhaps patients with a very high risk of developing neovascular AMD, for example, those with existing late AMD in the other fellow eye, for whom the risk of incident neovascular AMD might be slightly higher, should be re-evaluated. Accompanying commentary - aspirin use and link to age-related macular degenerationGeorge A. Diamond, M.D. and Sanjay Kaul, M.D., of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in an invited Commentary wrote that the study had strengths and limitations. "It provides evidence from the largest prospective cohort with more than five years of longitudinal evaluation reported to date using objective and standardized ascertainment of AMD.The main limitation of the study was its non-randomized design which contained the potential for residual confounding "that cannot be mitigated by multivariate logistic regression or propensity score analysis." From a science-of-medicine point of view, the evidence was not compelling enough to be clinically directive, they added. The "hypothesis-generated findings" need to be backed up with prospective randomized studies before any recommendations on patient behavior or clinical practice can be made. From an art-of-medicine point of view, however, some courses of action are available to the thoughtful doctor, based on the limited amount of available evidence. "In the absence of definitive evidence regarding whether limiting aspirin exposure mitigates AMD risk, one obvious course of action is to maintain the status quo." What is macular degeneration?Macular degeneration is a an eye disease in which patients gradually lose their central vision - things that are directly in front of them become progressively harder to see. People with macular degeneration find it much harder to write, read, recognize faces, and drive. Two boys seen by somebody with normal vision  How somebody with AMD may see the two boys In developed nations, macular degeneration is the major cause of partial blindness among patients aged fifty or more years. The patient can usually perform other activities in daily life, because even though their central vision is affected, there is still enough peripheral vision. There are two forms of macular degeneration:
Written by Christian Nordqvist Copyright: MediLexicon International Ltd Original article posted on Medical News Today. Articles not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Medical News Today publishes the latest health news and health videos for consumers and health professionals. It has a searchable archive of over 100,000 health news articles. < back to medical news
|
||||
|
news headlines 
email to a friend 
printer friendly 
sign up to newsletter 
Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Contact / Feedback
MediLexicon International Ltd
Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
MediLexicon International Ltd © 2004-2013 All rights reserved.
