Factors Affecting the Age of Onset of age-related macular edema (AMD)

The investigators explored the effects of the following covariates on development of AMD: sex, ethnicity, smoking history, fluoxetine use, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. (Image Credit: ©yoshitaka - Adobe.Stock.com)

A new study¹ evaluated the relationship between statin use and the age of onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) at 2 large medical centers in California. Durga Ganesh, a medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, reported that at both medical centers the use of statins and non-Hispanic black ethnicity were associated with a later onset of AMD, and obesity was associated with an earlier onset of AMD.

Ganesh and colleagues screened the electronic health records of 62,817 patients for AMD; 52,840 patients had been evaluated at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ophthalmology Clinics and 9,977 patients at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Ophthalmology Clinics. The investigators explored the effects of the following covariates on development of AMD: sex, ethnicity, smoking history, fluoxetine use, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension.

Of the patients evaluated at UCLA, 5,498 were diagnosed with AMD. The analysis indicated that statin use (hazard ratio [HR], 0.8823; P < 0.0001), and non-Hispanic black (HR, 0.5687; P < 0.0001) and Hispanic ethnicities (HR, 0.8269; P = 0.0028) were associated with a later onset of AMD, and female sex (HR, 1.0852; P = 0.0035), obesity (HR, 1.4555; P < 0.0001), and fluoxetine use (HR, 1.3797; P = 0.0003) with earlier onset of AMD onset. When data were stratified for ethnicity, statins, fluoxetine, sex, and obesity were significant only within non-Hispanic white subjects. Statin use was significantly higher among patients with dry AMD (HR, 0.8410; P = 0.0001) compared with wet AMD (HR, 0.9188; P = 0.0351).

In the UCSF cohort, 526 patients had been diagnosed with AMD. The associations between statin use (HR, 0.7643; P = 0.0033), non-Hispanic black ethnicity (HR, 0.5043; P = 0.0035), and obesity (HR, 1.9602; P < 0.0001) and AMD onset were confirmed.

In both cohorts, the study concluded, the use of statins and non-Hispanic black ethnicity were associated with a later onset of AMD, and obesity was associated with an earlier onset of AMD onset.

Reference

1. Ganesh D, Chiang JN, Corradetti G, et al. Effect of statins on the age of onset of age-related macular degeneration. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2023;261:2245–2255.