Healthy lifestyles related to subsequent prevalence of age-related macular degeneration.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate the relationships between lifestyle behaviors of diet, smoking, and physical activity and the subsequent prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

METHODS:

The population included 1313 participants (aged 55-74 years) in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study, an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. Scores on a modified 2005 Healthy Eating Index were assigned using responses to a food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (1994-1998). Physical activity and lifetime smoking history were queried. An average of 6 years later, stereoscopic fundus photographs were taken to assess the presence and severity of AMD; it was present in 202 women, 94% of whom had early AMD, the primary outcome.

RESULTS:

In multivariate models, women whose diets scored in the highest quintile compared with the lowest quintile on the modified 2005 Healthy Eating Index had 46% lower odds for early AMD. Women in the highest quintile compared with those in the lowest quintile for physical activity (in metabolic energy task hours per week) had 54% lower odds for early AMD. Although smoking was not independently associated with AMD on its own, having a combination of 3 healthy behaviors (healthy diet, physical activity, and not smoking) was associated with 71% lower odds for AMD compared with having high-risk scores (P < .001).

CONCLUSION:

Modifying lifestyles might reduce risk for early AMD as much as 3-fold, lowering the risk for advanced AMD in a person's lifetime and the social and economic costs of AMD to society.

• Authors: Julie A Mares, Rick P Voland, Sherie A Sondel, Amy E Millen, Tara Larowe, Suzen M Moeller, Mike L Klein, Barbara A Blodi, Richard J Chappell, Lesley Tinker, Cheryl Ritenbaugh, Karen M Gehrs, Gloria E Sarto, Elizabeth Johnson, D Max Snodderly, Robert B Wallace
• Journal: Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill. : 1960) (Arch Ophthalmol) Vol. 129 Issue 4 Pg. 470-80 (Apr 2011) ISSN: 1538-3601 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21149749 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Xanthophylls
• Zeaxanthins
• C-Reactive Protein
• Tocopherols
• Lutein

Topics

• Aged
• C-Reactive Protein (metabolism)
• Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
• Diet
• Exercise (physiology)
• Feeding Behavior
• Female
• Health Behavior
• Humans
• Life Style
• Lutein (administration & dosage, blood)
• Macular Degeneration (blood, diagnosis, epidemiology)
• Middle Aged
• Prevalence
• Risk Factors
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Tocopherols (administration & dosage, blood)
• United States (epidemiology)
• Xanthophylls (administration & dosage, blood)
• Zeaxanthins