SAN FRANCISCO -- November 3, 2009 -- A study published in the November issue of the journal Ophthalmology shows that cataract surgery is likely to benefit patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) at all stages of the disease.
For the study, Emily Y. Chew, MD, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland and colleagues obtained data from the multicenter, prospective Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), which was organised primarily to evaluate the effects of high-dose vitamin and mineral supplements on cataract and AMD.
"Earlier epidemiology had suggested cataract surgery might worsen AMD, so the data from the AREDS cohort study were evaluated to answer this important question," said Dr. Chew.
The cohort, comprising 1,939 eyes from 1,244 patients) with various stages of AMD, was evaluated for visual acuity after cataract surgery.
On average, patients with AMD, ranging from mild to advanced, gained visual acuity after cataract surgery; the best gains were in patients with vision worse than20/40 before surgery.
No difference in improvement was noted between patients with neovascular or central geographic atrophy AMD.
About 1 year later vision gains remained statistically significant in the 865 eyes available for follow-up.
Results for the primary focus of AREDS, regarding the effect of nutritional supplements, showed that high doses of vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene did not affect the development or progression of cataract, but this vitamin combination plus zinc did reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD by 2% in the 5 years of the study.
SOURCE: American Academy of Ophthalmology
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