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Older whites more likely to have signs of
future eye disease than blacks
White individuals older than 65 are more
likely than black individuals to have
characteristics that indicate they will
develop more advanced forms of the eye
disease age-related macular degeneration
(AMD), according to a report in the February
issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of
the JAMA/Archives journals.
AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in the
United States. Early symptoms include the
appearance of drusen (large yellow or white
spots in the retina), according to
background information in the article.
Previous studies have shown a potential
difference in rates of AMD between black and
white individuals.
Susan B. Bressler, M.D., of the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Baltimore, and colleagues analyzed the eyes
of 2,520 individuals (average age 73.5
years) of whom 1,854 were white and 666 were
black.
Photographs of each eye were taken and
assessed for several characteristics of AMD,
including drusen and abnormal blood vessel
growth.
Larger drusen, connected drusen, those
covering a larger area and those closer to
the center of the eye were more likely to be
found in whites.
White individuals were also more likely to
already have advanced AMD (1.7 percent vs.
1.1 percent of blacks) and geographic
atrophy, another form of AMD, (1.8 percent
of whites vs. 0.3 percent of blacks).
“Such data strongly suggest that white
individuals are more likely to progress to
advanced vision-disabling AMD (certainly to
geographic atrophy) than black individuals,”
the authors conclude.
''The data also suggest that black
individuals may have a mechanism for
protection against AMD and other eye
abnormalities. “The absence of racial
differences in these early lesions in the
pericentral (surrounding the center) area
suggest that further research is warranted
on factors that protect black individuals
from lesions in the central zone or promote
central lesions in white individuals.”
###
(Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126[2]:241-245.
Available pre-embargo to the media at
www.jamamedia.org.)
Editor’s Note: This study was supported by
Research to Prevent Blindness through an
Olga Keith Weiss Scholars Award (Dr.
Bressler) and a senior scientist award (Dr.
West); an unrestricted grant from Alcon
Research Institute (Dr. West); and a grant
from the National Institute on Aging. Please
see the article for additional information,
including other authors, author
contributions and affiliations, financial
disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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