Incidence of submacular hemorrhage in AMD patients varied seasonally

Environmental temperature was inversely correlated with the monthly incidence of acute submacular hemorrhage in patients with age-related macular degeneration, a Japanese study found. The results of the study suggest that the mechanism for submacular hemorrhage is "strongly correlated" with systemic blood pressure, the study authors said.

Y. Ito and colleagues at Nagoya University School of Medicine retrospectively studied 60 eyes of 59 patients with AMD that experienced submacular hemorrhage between April 1998 and March 2005. They found a significant inverse correlation (P < .01) between the incidence of submacular hemorrhage and ambient environmental temperature, with cases peaking during winter and decreasing during summer. However, seasonal variations were significant only in patients with hypertension, the study found.

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