Alzheimer Dementia: People with cognitive impairment are more likely to have macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease involving damage to the central retina (macular) and is the most common cause of legal blindness in the United States
.

In 2020, 196 million people worldwide will be affected by AMD; 11 million of them have advanced AMD (late AMD, a stage of the disease where people also begin to experience symptomatic vision loss)

It is estimated that by 2040, the burden will increase to 288 million and 19 million people, respectively
.

AMD is produced by a complex interaction between environmental factors and genetics.

Quality of Life

Evidence of varying strengths shows that there is an association between AD and AMD as neurodegenerative diseases of aging, but this is still controversial
.

The two may share key environmental risk factors (such as diet), histopathological characteristics (such as amyloid β [Aβ] deposition), and pathophysiological mechanisms (such as oxidative stress and inflammation) to some extent

The Age-Related Eye Disease Research (AREDS) and AREDS2 sponsored by the National Eye Institute of the United States are multi-center, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) for nutritional supplements for the treatment of AMD and cataracts
.

AREDS and AREDS2 reveal the benefits of a daily high-dose combination of antioxidant vitamins, minerals and nutrients, which can moderately reduce the risk of progression from moderate to advanced AMD

In this way, Jimmy T.

Le of the National Institutes of Health and others have explored the two-way relationship between cognitive impairment and advanced AMD in elderly people with advanced AMD who participated in AREDS2

Participants in the Age-related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) undergo an annual eye examination and cognitive function test (for example, a modified cognitive status telephone interview [TICS-M])
.

They also studied the two-way relationship between cognitive impairment (eg TICS-M score <30) and advanced AMD after 5 and 10 years

They analyzed 5189 eyes (3157 participants; average age 72.

7 years) and followed them for a median of 10.

Compared with participants without cognitive impairment, participants with cognitive impairment at baseline had eyes at 5 years (hazard ratio [HR], 1.
24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.
08-1.
43) and 10 years ( HR, 1.
20; 95% CI, 1.
05-1.
37) are more likely to develop into advanced AMD
.

Compared with participants without cognitive impairment, participants with cognitive impairment at baseline

A poorer baseline AMD severity is not related to the development of cognitive impairment
.

The important significance of this study lies in the discovery: cognitive impairment is related to the progression of advanced AMD in AREDS2, which emphasizes the importance of eye care for cognitively impaired patients
.

Cognitive impairment is associated with advanced AMD progression in AREDS2, which emphasizes the importance of eye care for people with cognitive impairment
.

Original Source:
Le JT, Agrón E, Keenan TDL, et al.
Assessing bidirectional associations between cognitive impairment and late age‐related macular degeneration in the Age‐Related Eye Disease Study 2.
Alzheimer's & Dementia.
Published online November 10, 2021:alz .
12473.
doi:10.
1002/alz.
12473

Assessing bidirectional associations between cognitive impairment and late age-related macular degeneration in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 Assessing bidirectional associations between cognitive impairment and late age-related macular degeneration in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2

 

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