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AMD not linked to sun exposure, iris color

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Sun exposure, iris color and hair color are not associated with age-related macular degeneration, a study by British researchers found.

J.C. Khan and colleagues at the University of Cambridge performed the study to identify relationships between AMD and the potential risk factors of sun exposure, skin sensitivity to sunlight, iris color and hair color. They examined 446 people with end-stage AMD and 283 spouse controls. Information on lifetime sun exposure was gathered through questionnaires. Iris color was clinically graded by comparison with standard photographs. AMD was graded by stereoscopic color fundus photographs and a clinical exam. AMD was defined as the presence of geographic atrophy or choroidal neovascularization.

All subjects were at least 50 years old with myopia no greater than –6 D and no evidence of inflammatory or retinal vascular disease. Only spouses with no or very early age-related maculopathy were accepted as controls. Because of the age of the population, the control group included people with nonextensive small or intermediate drusen and minimal hypo- or hyperpigmentation, the study authors noted.

“We were unable to demonstrate an association of AMD with iris color or a change in iris color,” the authors said. No differences in hair color at age 20 were found between cases and controls, they said. There was a possible association between “poorer tanning ability and geographic atrophy but with borderline significance in the context of several risk factors being tested,” the investigators said.

The authors said they were unable to demonstrate a link between lifetime sun exposure and late AMD. They noted that, in contrast to most population-based studies, the participants in this study were elderly and their recollections of lifetime exposure were potentially inaccurate.

“Since our estimates of sun exposure were necessarily crude, we assessed the incidence of skin cancers as a proxy measure of sun exposure, but this also showed no association with AMD,” they said.

The study is published in the January issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.