This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

BMJ: Public unaware of link between smoking, AMD

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Smoking is the strongest modifiable risk factor associated with age-related macular degeneration, but public awareness of this association is low, according to an editorial in the March issue of the British Medical Journal. The public would benefit from increased awareness of the causal association, the editorial asserts.

The article, authored by Simon P. Kelly, FRCOphth, and colleagues, notes that smoking has been linked to several eye diseases, including nuclear cataract and thyroid eye disease. Evidence from three large-scale population-based studies support the link with AMD, the authors said. People who smoke are three to four times more likely to develop AMD, and smoking also decreases the effectiveness of treatments such as argon laser photocoagulation, they said.

The strong association warrants a sustained public health campaign to increase awareness of the ocular hazards of smoking, the authors said.

“The finding that smokers develop AMD around 10 years earlier than non-smokers could also be a potent message in public awareness campaigns,” they said.