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AMD and CNV more likely to develop in siblings of patients with disease than controls

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HONG KONG — Siblings of age-related macular degeneration patients are at a 14 times greater risk of developing AMD than controls and 54 times as likely to develop choroidal neovascularization, a study showed.

"Age and smoking are known to be significant risk factors for AMD, and if we do an adjusted logistic regression analysis to account for these factors, then siblings are 14 times more likely to have AMD than control subjects of a similar age and smoking history," Humma Shahid, MRCOphth, said here at the World Ophthalmology Congress.

The prospective, multicenter study Dr. Shahid presented was conducted from 2001 until 2006 and looked at siblings and spouses of AMD patients.

"We aimed to determine the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration and age-related maculopathy (ARM) in siblings of a cohort of AMD cases," Dr. Shahid said.

The researchers recruited 171 siblings regardless of ocular status of 122 patients with AMD. They also studied 292 control subjects, who were not screened to be free of ocular disease.

Findings were based on medical and family history, an ophthalmic examination and fundus photographs, she said.

There was a significant difference between the siblings and controls in terms of age, with average age being 73 years in siblings and 75 years in controls. There was no significant difference in gender or smoking status.

If CNV or geographic atrophy was present in at least one eye of the siblings or controls, then AMD was said to be present, Dr. Shahid explained.

AMD was seen in 2.7% of controls and 22.2% of siblings, she said. Siblings were more likely to have CNV and controls were more likely to have geographic atrophy.

The ratio was 14:1 for AMD and 54:1 for CNV for siblings compared with controls of similar age and smoking history, she said.

"Siblings of AMD cases have a significantly higher risk of developing AMD compared to controls. We find no significant difference in the prevalence of ARM between siblings and controls," Dr. Shahid said.